Pokemon Adventures: AshGray Chapter
by Could Not Think of a Good Name
Summary: When a battle for Giratina does not go as planned, Red, Blue, Green, and Giovanni end up in Ash Ketchum's world. A crisis soon results from the dimensional travel, and the dex holders must work together with Ash and his friends to save their homes. But can the heroes even put aside their differences long enough to pose a threat? Manga/Anime crossover. List of ships inside.
1. Round 1: VS Team Rocket

**Author's Note:**** And so here I begin my attempt to somehow pull together a sensible plot involving the manga and anime. I'm going to start this story out by realizing that I am not Japanese. That will be a general rule for this Fanfic. So, yes, Blue is a boy, yes, Green is a girl, and, yes, I am referring to the manga as "Pokemon Adventures." If we start out with a few rules, I hope that this Fic will seem a lot less confusing, lol! Anyway, I would also like you to keep in mind that in the manga timeline, this takes place in the future, after any "Pokemon Adventures" chapter you have read so far. So, when an event that has not happened yet in the normal canon is addressed by a character, it is because this Fic takes place later. Enjoy, and tell me how you feel about it!**

**SPOILER ALERT: This fic includes spoilers of every "Pokemon Adventures (PokeSpe)" round and volume released as of October 6th 2012, every episode of the Pokemon anime up to the "Best Wishes" series, and most Pokemon movies.  
**

**Ship Warning:**** While this round only includes Specialshipping and Luckyshipping hints, the entire story includes Specialshipping, Luckyshipping, MangaPokeshipping, Pokeshipping, Contestshipping, MangaQuestshipping, Commonershipping, Franticshipping, a scene where Brock hits on Green, and a scene where Green fake hits on Lance (anime) thus far. If any of this offends you, then this fanfic may not be for you.  
**

**I do not own or have any rights to any part of the Pokemon franchise whatsoever. **

* * *

In the vastness of infinity an ominous ghost Pokemon slithered like a snake through both time and space. Banished to the world in between worlds, on a plane parallel to yet separate from reality, the powerful dragon swam. Giratina cautiously plucked at the bonds between worlds just to check the strength of each strand. Although the beast did not enjoy its prison, it at least found contentment in keeping the multiverse in balance. It gave the Pokemon purpose… meaning… power.

It was then that the Pokemon heard a noise. The noise beaconed from one of its more… hated worlds. The unusual thing about this world was that Giratina had enemies there. Sure, there were a lot of people and Pokemon who disliked the dragon, but a human from this world had directly thwarted Giratina in the past. Grudges die hard, so when it heard a noise from this particular world, Giratina made it a habit to investigate.

However, as the ghost slithered over to the orb containing the noisy world, it became more irritated. The noises did not sound like the human it was looking for. The noises sounded like mockery coming from an adult male. With contempt, the legendary looked down into the orb to find a large man in a black uniform yelling at him. The man seemed to be alone in a stone chamber, save for the six pokeballs on his belt, and he had a smooth haircut and a small red 'R' on his shirt.

Giratina knew better than to attack the man, but it was having trouble resisting. The man was obviously up to no good. Giratina was more than aware of the evil organization known as Team Rocket. It was a large international crime syndicate that existed in multiple worlds. The organization actively searched for Pokemon like Giratina in order to cause trouble. The man's taunts were almost certainly a trap, but he was standing in Turnback Cave BY HIMSELF! It was well known in nearly every world that Turnback Cave was a sacred area in which reality touched other realities. It was also well known that Giratina was a strong and prideful Pokemon. The man was basically asking to be attacked.

He continued shouting, and Giratina couldn't look away. The ghost was becoming angry. Then, without thinking, Giratina leapt into the orb, ready to fight.

* * *

In that very world, a small group of teens had formed outside the cave that the Rocket man was found in. The teens were huddled together, speaking quietly among themselves.

"Okay," said the leader, Red, who sported a red cap and jacket with black hair and a determined look on his face, "How many did you see go in there, Green?"

"I'm not sure," Answered the small brunette, who sported a white hat and a blue top, "I couldn't possibly hope to count that many rockets. All I know for sure is that Giovanni was leading them all, personally."

"Good." Responded the messy redhead draped in black that the group knew as Silver. "It's about time that my dad and I had a proper talk."

"Alright. Enough chit chat." Interjected Gold, a boy with a backwards black and yellow hat, dressed in a red jacket, and carrying a pool stick. He was slightly younger than Red but twice as reckless. "We need to get in there. Now. If Team Rocket is really back again, we don't want them getting their hands on the legendary that's supposed to live here!"

"Hold on there, genius." Bit the spiky brown haired boy in black, named Blue, albeit a bit sarcastically. "As much as I like to think of Team Rocket as a group of unprepared losers, they do out number us pretty severely this time. We need a plan."

"Already working on it." Said Red, smiling. "Gold, you seem eager enough. Do me a favor, and go in first, penetrating the front line of rockets and keeping an open pathway so that we can get as many of us as deep into the cave as possible without having to wear out our Pokemon."

"Finally some fun." Said Gold, returning Red's grin.

"Also, take Crys and Silver with you."

"Hold up." Started Silver "I want a chance to confront Giovanni, myself."

"You'll get that chance," Red returned "But you three make a great team. You work well with each other, and judging by the number of rockets in there, level alone won't be enough to win this battle."

"But I-"

"Silver!" this time it was Green's turn to speak. "Look, I'll make sure you get a piece of him, okay? But, for now, Red probably has the best plan of action."

"Fine." He gave in.

"Alright." Red continued "After you three make a hole in their defenses, Blue, Green, and I will follow Yellow to the chamber that Giovanni is in so we can stop… whatever he's planning."

"Wait." Yellow spoke up. A young girl with a straw hat, yellow top, and a female pikachu, nicknamed Chuchu, sitting on her shoulder. "Why do I need to lead you?" she asked almost shyly

"Yeah," said Green in a slightly aggravated tone "Why _does _she need to lead us?"

"H-hold on." Stuttered Red, "You were fine with my plan a few seconds ago. Now you're going to start questioning me?"

"I… have my reasons…" Green blushed a little. "Just answer the question!"

Red turned to Yellow. "You can read the emotions of other Pokemon. I was hoping you could use the ability to pinpoint Giovanni?"

"But… how?" she asked

"Well, if our theory about Team Rocket's interest in Giratina is correct, then you should be able to find Giratina (and Giovanni) simply by seeking out a particularly angry Pokemon… right?"

Yellow smiled. "Yeah." She said "Yeah! That could work!"

Red smiled back at her for a moment. He was lucky to have a friend with such astounding abilities. Yellow never ceased to amaze him in so many ways.

"Okay, break it up." Said Green "Are we gonna get this show on the road or what?"

It was then that Crystal, a young girl with dark hair in a white cap and overalls, who had been unusually quite during this meeting, finally spoke up. "Where should we meet up?" she asked

"What?" Red asked, slightly confused

"You know, we should arrange a meeting spot. That way, we will be able to tell if someone was captured in battle or something rather than spending half an hour afterwards trying to see if a missing person is just hanging around somewhere in the cave."

"Good call." Said Blue. "Let's just meet back in this spot."

The party then surveyed the area, making completely sure that they were familiar with the shape of the rocks near them, the size of the cave entrance, and many other details.

"Okay," said Gold eventually, as pulled out his pool stick and flung a pokeball into the air "Let's do this."

The ball landed on the ground and opened up to reveal an ambipom, who quickly struck a fighting stance as Gold chuckled.

"Chaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrge!" he yelled, running into the cave with his normal type.

Crystal eagerly followed suit, and Silver sighed as he jogged in behind the two.

Red let out a mischievous grin, as he faced Blue with a pokeball in hand.

"You ready for this, Blue?"

"Are you?" Blue smiled back.

Another great adventure had begun.

* * *

Giovanni was only half aware of what was going on. He could tell by the noises that a fairly large battle was going on near the entrance in the cave, but he opted to ignore the situation.

"My men can take care of themselves…" he muttered "or at least they'd better."

The Rocket boss had ventured into the deepest chamber of Turnback Cave, and he was about to do anything but turn back. It had been several years since the incident in Sinnoh that caught Giovanni's attention. There was a great battle for control of some of the most powerful legendary Pokemon known to man. In the end, the evil team responsible for disturbing the legendaries, Team Galactic, had been thwarted by a small group of children. Ugh. The story was all too familiar to the man. Although it had taken him awhile to get around to it, Giovanni had now managed to do some extensive research on the story, and he was particularly interested with the idea that one may be able to encounter the Distortion World, legendary home to Giratina, at Turnback Cave.

His plan was a simple ambush. Prod Giritina enough, and it will appear. There was no way the creature had any idea of the many rockets that waited for it right outside Giovanni's chamber. There were so many horror stories about this cave that one could easily infer what made the prideful Pokemon show itself. When teens were dumb enough to come snooping around the forbidden cave and, as a joke, call out to the beast, sometimes they would never be heard from again. Simple taunts provoked the legend. Simple taunts.

"You're a weakling!" he shouted, as he had been doing for some time now "Surely a creature known to be as mighty as you would not turn down a simple one-on-one battle with a mere human!"

Again, Giratina was a prideful Pokemon. Everybody knew this. Some even claimed that it was the dragon's pride that caused Arceus to banish it to the Distortion World.

"Hm." He smiled. "I see. Perhaps you don't even exist! The legends surrounding this cave are nothing more than fairy tales based off of a few pathetic people who came down here and saw their own shadows on the wall! You are merely a legend created by childish fears!"

Nothing happened.

The battle outside had apparently escalated and was starting to cause Giovanni to worry, something he did not often do. He made the decision that he needed to leave the chamber, see what was causing problems, and reassess the situation.

But as he turned to leave, he stopped momentarily and threw in one last taunt to be sure "…There is no legendary that would dare challenge me, anyway."

A loud roar emerged from nothingness in the room. Giovanni let a small grin show. "Hello, legend."

* * *

"Woah! Back up, buddy!" shouted Gold as his typhlosion, Exbo, shot a Blast Burn at a metagross that belonged to a rocket. He chuckled. "Sorry, but we've got a line to hold!"

And, indeed he did. Gold, Crystal, and Silver were doing a great job of holding the rockets back on the left and right of the cave, forming a small path down the middle and to the next chamber, which Yellow ran through, followed by Red, Blue, and Green. Gold and his party shuffled down the chamber, holding off the rockets at the appropriate angle to allow Yellow to lead further into the caverns.

"Come on! How much longer?" shouted an anxious Blue

"I-I'm not sure." The psychic girl responded. "I'm having trouble sensing it."

"How?"

"I can't really explain it. I can sense Giratina's disturbance, but I can't tell where it is. It's almost as if Giratina is there and not there at the same time!"

"What does that even mean?" shouted Green

"Guys, quit putting so much pressure on her!" defended Red "This isn't exactly a normal Pokemon she's dealing with! She needs to concentrate!"

"Yeah!" Crystal yelled from her battle, "I don't mean to completely ignore you or anything, but I'm not sure how much longer my Pokemon can keep this up! Please, Yellow, hurry!"

Yellow grunted. She continued moving forward but closed her eyes. The sounds of the rockets shouting, all the attacks happening at once, all the pressure she had on her to do this right, and… something else she couldn't quite pin point were interfering with her focus. Then something clicked. A roar echoed throughout the caverns. All the Pokemon, the rockets, and the dex holders stopped in their tracks and went silent for a moment.

Yellow broke that silence.

"I've got it!" she yelled. "I can feel Giratina!"

"Great!" Red cheered, "Where is it?"

"This way!" Yellow motioned forward before sprinting in the direction so fast that Chuchu almost fell off of her shoulder.

Red and the others followed suit, not realizing that it wasn't as easy for Gold and his team to move down the cave near as fast.

"Wait!" Gold shouted, but as he turned back to his battles, he was shocked to see that his opponents had all fled down the cave after Red and the others!

"Aaahhh!" "Darn it!" he heard in the voices of Silver and Crystal. He assumed that they had just discovered a similar situation with their rockets.

He turned around and chased after the troops that appeared to be hastily pursuing his friends.

"Hold it right there!"

"Wait up!"

* * *

Meanwhile, outside the cave quite a ruckus could be heard, and one man, who, unbeknownst to Red and his friends, had been following the dex holders, listened to the destruction and sighed. His name was Lance of the Elite Four. He was tall, dressed in black with a cape and had his red hair spiked up on all sides. He walked up to the cave's entrance with his trusty Pokemon, Dragonite, and sighed.

"Oh, listen to the sound of the waring humans, Dragonite. Hear the colossal pain and suffering they cause their Pokemon brethren."

Lance had followed the teens because he knew that they were on the trail of Team Rocket, and, although he did not generally approve of what the evil team did, he did acknowledge that they had come up with several decent plans for world conquest in the past. Lance sought to find out this plan and take advantage of it himself. So, for now, he was going to patiently wait outside the cave and consider his next move.

* * *

Things had gone from bad to worse for Giratina. It knew that the taunts from this Rocket man were a trap, and surely enough, as soon as the legendary had descended to attack the human, Rocket troops flooded the room, Pokemon at their side. Giratina was not fond of fleeing, but, even if it wanted to, it couldn't, as most of the first attacks that were used against it prevented escape. Giratina was hit with several Mean Looks and caught in multiple Arena Traps. The rockets kept coming in.

Giovanni chuckled as dozens of attacks hit the beast again and again. The idea of having one of the Creation Trio at his command was amazing. "In a few short minutes, you will be mine." He mocked.

Red and the other dex holders soon entered the chamber, surprised to be almost entirely ignored by the rockets. They gasped at what they saw.

"Look at what those monsters are doing to that poor thing!" shouted Yellow

"We're stopping them now!" added Red, as he, Blue, and Yellow charged through the many rockets to get to Giratina.

Lingering behind for a moment, Green turned toward Gold, Silver, and Crystal.

"Stay here!" She commanded "We're going to try to defend Giratina from the front, but they will just have healthier Pokemon back hear to send after us once we wipe out their first few waves, unless you three do something about it!"

"Right!" Silver nodded, Gold and Crystal agreeing.

"Good! See ya in a sec!" said Green, adding a wink for character before she took off with Red and the others.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" asked Gold, as he chose his remaining Pokemon. His companions did the same.

Meanwhile, from the front, Red, Blue, and Yellow were having a hard time reaching the weakened Giratina. It was not that the rockets were slowing them down tremendously; it was just that Giratina did not seem to want them any closer.

"We're trying to help you!" offered Yellow.

But Giratina was not about to fall for another trap, and it simply fired a shadow ball at the girl.

She screamed and jumped to the floor, avoiding the attack.

Green soon ran up to where the thick of the fight was and offered to help Yellow up.

"Yellow, does Giratina look okay to you?" she asked, "It has been taking quite a few hits."

"What do you mean?" Yellow responded.

Then, as if on queue, Giratina was hit by one last icebeam and fell to the floor. The rockets cheered, the battles came to a halt, and Giovanni reached for a pokeball to capture the beast.

"Oh no you don't!" Cried Red, as he jumped out of seemingly nowhere and tackled the boss to the floor.

"Red!" shouted Yellow and Green at the same time.

As Red and the Rocket boss wrestled on the ground, another rocket came to a stunning realization, shouting, "Hey! We've all got pokeballs!" as he waved his in the air. A murmur of agreement was heard amongst the troops as they all began to throw their capture devices at the helpless legendary, but Blue, Gold, and the others were prepared for this. They simply had their Pokemon knock the enemy pokeballs out of the sky with every attack they knew. Giratina was not getting captured unless they were taken down first. No rockets were amused by this, and the battles started back up again, aimed directly at the dex holders and their Pokemon!

"Yellow! You need to heal Giratina!" shouted Green.

"B-but I've never healed something so enormous before on my own!" She countered

"Just do it!"

Yellow walked over to Giratina among the attacks and the yelling of the rockets. She closed her eyes, and she began to focus, her hands hovering just over the legendary's head.

"Come on..." Yellow muttered, "Come on..."

Not long after, Giratina's sight returned. It opened its eyes. The room around it was blurry. It appeared as though the cavern walls were moving, but then it saw the young girl who had her hands on its head. It had worked!

Yellow looked at Giratina, noticing its eyes had opened, and she smiled at it, "It's going to be okay." she said, "My friends and I," she motioned to Blue, Green, and Red (who was still on the ground fighting Giovanni), "are here to protect you."

This touched Giratina. There were very, VERY few people it knew of who would try to protect it rather than capture it. In fact, it could only think of one. As Giratina looked around the room, though, it noticed that it was a losing battle. The good humans and their Pokemon, valiant as they were, were far too outnumbered. So, Giratina determined that it would save its friends, and it let out a mighty roar that summoned a small black void in front of Yellow, just before the Pokemon collapsed to the floor again.

Yellow was startled. She had told Giratina they were helping it, but this void did not look friendly. It was a hole in reality, swirling with diabolical intentions, seeming to absorb light, rather than return it. It seemed like something out of a horror movie. The void moved toward her, and she responded naturally by running away screaming. The void followed.

The void moved closer and closer, clearly outmatching Yellow in speed. Instead she tried to dodge it by weaving into the crowd of still battling rockets. However, the void appeared to be somehow sentient, avoiding the enemies and their Pokemon, only focusing on Yellow, until the chase soon came upon Green. Green looked at Yellow with a confused glance, as the girl ran past her in a panic. She did not notice the void that was approaching her from behind until she turned and saw it swallow up her nidoqueen.

"Nido!" Green cried, as she ran out to save her Pokemon, but before she really knew what she was doing, the void leapt forward and swallowed her as well. Yellow saw all of it from her lead, and she screamed louder.

Bad decision.

Blue came running towards Yellow in a panic, asking her if she was okay, and he was devoured by the void as well. The void then sought out his Pokemon, just as it had Green's. The rockets at this point had stopped battling and were watching this bizarre event unfold. Yellow simply kept running, too terrified to process what had just happened to her friends.

Giovanni and Red, however, were completely unaware of the void, as they rolled on the ground still punching and grabbing at each other, covered in sweat. That was, for some reason, Yellow's target. Yellow knew by this point that the void was dangerous, and leading it to her friends did not make much since, but she had to run to Red. She naturally ran to him when she was scared. The fact that he was wrestling a world renown crime boss and she was living out a sci-fi thriller movie did not change the facts.

Once she finally made it to her friend, she bent down to hear him and Giovanni still grunting and shouting at each other.

"RED!" she yelled

"A little busy!" he responded.

She didn't have time for this. She leaned over and pulled Red off of Giovanni, kicking and screaming.

"Hey!" he fumed, "I wasn't-"

"Red, look!" she said as she pointed his head toward the ever approaching void.

The thought that this void was after Yellow didn't register to Red. All he noticed was that it had positioned itself directly behind Giovanni.

"Perfect." Red smiled. Then, while still in Yellow's arms, he kicked Giovanni into the mysterious abyss.

All the rockets gasped as the boss disappeared, screaming into the darkness. Even Yellow was shocked by Red's actions. He was clearly pumped with adrenaline after that fist fight. She didn't even notice that the void was still moving toward her.

But whatever kind of gravity or suction the void was using came into play again in mere seconds as Red was ripped from Yellow's arms and engulfed in the nothingness.

That caused Yellow to snap out of it.

"NO!" the girl screamed, having found her voice again, and she reached for Red as fast as she could, while her friend sank into the darkness, but the void disappeared around him and dissolved from existence.

The rockets were shocked. They didn't move or say a word. Yellow, however, was completely conscious. She ran back through the crowd, back to Gold, Silver, and Crystal, failing to fight back her own tears. The Johto trio had missed most of the action through the crowd, and they weren't entirely sure what had just happened, but when Yellow fled past them, out the back of the cave, they did not hesitate for a moment before following behind her.

* * *

Once things had finally calmed down, Yellow sat with Gold and the others at the meeting spot outside. Chuchu patted the girl's arm to calm her a bit, as she explained what she had seen, and Lance, not willing to give away his position yet, sat in a dark crevice behind the team, listening to the entire story.

After Yellow finished, Crystal was the first to try to comfort her friend."…Well," she said "It doesn't necessarily mean that they are dead..."

"H…how else would you explain it?" Yellow chocked out

"Well, as much as it pains me to suggest such a thing," began Silver, "Giratina is said to be in control of many different realities and dimensions. Maybe it just… kidnapped them and brought the four somewhere else."

Yellow didn't see how this helped, but it certainly caught Gold's attention.

"Yeah!" he started "In fact, you said that the void was chasing you, right? And it only took four people? Maybe Giratina was just trying to bring you and the three people it saw helping it to somewhere safe!"

Yellow looked up a little bit.

"Right!" Crystal added enthusiastically, "That's gotta be it! After all, if the void were supposed to hurt people, why would it only be after you four? You said it was ignoring the rockets and it only took Giovanni because Red kicked him in!"

Yellow wiped off some of her tears. "Well… maybe… but where would Giratina send someone in an attempt to save them?"

Crystal scrunched her face, thinking, "I… don't know… maybe to someone who has saved _it_ before?"

Although the idea sounded strange, Crystal must have hit the nail on the head, as there was only one person in the multiverse that had saved Giratina before…


	2. Round 2: Down and Out?

**Author's Note: Ok. So, just for future reference, don't expect me to update this story NEAR this frequently in the future! You see, I had the first few chapters of this Fic written out before I decided to publish it on this website (I decided to see if _I liked_ the Fic before showing it to others), and although I would normally pace even the first few chapters just so I could keep a consistent flow of updates coming, I realized that there are a lot of people on this site who only publish one chapter and never really continue their story. So, I decided to go ahead and publish the second chapter today in order to really establish that I intend to carry this story through until the end. If my life continues to be as slow as it is, you can probably expect my updates to be weekly, bi-weekly, or something similar. Anyway, I hope that the anime fans who read the last chapter didn't feel too alienated. I intend to give decent arcs to every main character in this Fic, and I will do my best to treat both worlds with the respect they deserve. Similarly, I'm going to ask the manga fans to bear with me in this chapter, as it will be focusing on the anime, establishing the characters, a few sub-plot issues, and preparing for the meeting.**

**Ship Warning: Pokeshipping  
**

**I do not own or have any rights to any part of the Pokemon franchise whatsoever. **

* * *

Welcome to the world of Pokemon! A world where, at the age of ten, any aspiring trainer may set out on their own journey to capture and battle wild Pokemon all around the world in hopes of one day becoming a Pokemon Master! Today, we join our familiar young hero, Ash Ketchum, who appears to be feeling a little down.

"Pikachu! Thunderbolt! You can do it!" yelled the young trainer on the right side of the stadium. Ash was wearing a sleeveless black vest, with a yellow "V" shaped stripe across it, over his white shirt. He also sported a red cap (turned backwards at the moment) with a black streak dividing it in half by the top and a blue half-pokeball emblem on the front. He was nervous at the moment, but the look on his face was still one of full confidence.

Ash was in Sinnoh's Lilly of the Valley Conference, having just defeated his rival, Paul, in the last round. He was in the middle of a heated battle with a very formidable opponent, named Tobias. The much older trainer with long gray hair, dressed in a red cape, had already managed to faint all of Ash's team, save for his Pikachu, who was now being whipped through the air by Tobias' second Pokemon, Latios.

Pikachu let out a burst of electricity as it held onto the dragon Pokemon for dear life, and the stadium roared with excitement!

"PIIII….KAAA…CHUUUU!" yelled the tiny rodent.

Latios felt the electricity course through his body as he shot straight upward into the air. He knew he could not take much more damage.

Then, in a gruff voice, Tobias shouted, "Quick! Descend, and toss it off!"

The Pokemon looked back down, barely hearing his master, and obediently did a 180-degree turn on a dime toward the battlefield, leaving Pikachu behind.

"PIKA!" the electric type gasped, as he was stranded to fall several hundred feet in the air.

'_Okay! That's straight up murder!_' Thought Ash

"Use Luster Purge!" Tobias shouted.

Obedient to the end, Latios touched base near the battlefield floors and began to charge a purple ball of energy in its mouth.

Pikachu could do nothing but look at the legendary Pokemon as he fell through the skies fearing this would be the end, but then Ash got an idea. Not only to defeat Latios, but also to save Pikachu's life, Ash shouted, "Use Volt Tackle!" at the top of his lungs. And Pikachu must have heard him, because he spun his fall into a midair run and electricity covered his body on all sides. Then, Pikachu ferociously charged at the latios, just as it shot its beam of purple energy.

The beam slammed into Pikachu, as he kept running forward. He slowly pushed the Luster Purge back inch by inch with his signature electric attack. It had come down to a question of brute strength, and Pikachu was determined to prove he had the energy to end this. He moved closer and closer to Latios, pushing back the powerful beam, and Ash held his breath in excitement.

'_Closer… closer…_' thought the young Pokemon trainer, as he judged the distance between his partner and the legendary dragon. Then, just as Pikachu was about to break the beam, Ash shouted, "NOW! Use Iron Tail!"

Pikachu's tail began to glow, and, still surrounded by electricity, he slammed it directly into Latios' face and the source of the Luster Purge. The entire stadium was covered by dirt and dust from the explosion, and then everything stopped in mid-air.

"Pikachu?" Pikachu squeaked, as if to ask its trainer why he had paused the video right before the end of the battle.

"I'm sorry, buddy," Ash said, as he sat on the floor of his living room in Pallet Town, remote in hand, "but I already know how the battle ends. I'm just watching this because I want to know if there was anything I could have done to beat this guy."

"Pika…" Pikachu sighed in response.

Although Ash had been a good sport about the battle and, perhaps, didn't even mind the loss at first, he was still beaten up over the fact that he had lost yet another league tournament. Ash had always dreamed of being the greatest Pokemon Master ever, but the longer his journey lasted, the more elusive his dream seemed to be. Now, he found himself spending yet another morning watching the same battle… again.

"Are you watching that old battle again?" came a soft, yet aggravated voice.

Ash turned around to see his mother, Delia, standing cross-armed in the kitchen doorway, staring at him with an angry scowl on her face. She wore a blue skirt with a yellow top, covered by a short-sleeved pink jacket, her brunet hair tied back in a ponytail, and behind her was a Mr. Mime, who she affectionately referred to as Mimey, wearing a pink apron.

"Ash Ketchum! You have watched that battle too many times for me to count, and I keep telling you that you did a great job! You don't need to lament on that loss anymore!" she firmly insisted, "You are a great trainer and a fine young man, even with out a Sinnoh League trophy."

"But, mooooom," Ash began in a typical teenage mood, "That's the problem! My Pokemon and I gave it all we had, and we still weren't able to beat Tobias! I try so hard in each league, but there always seems to be something that stops me!"

"That just happens sometimes, honey." Her tone got softer, "You just have to keep giving it your best and you'll win the next one."

"But that's always what I say…" said Ash "I'm just not sure how true it is anymore."

"Ash, I won't have you acting this way! You have been sitting around the house for over a month now! When are you going to go on your next adventure?"

"When I'm confident I'm not going to fail again." he deadpanned.

His mom frowned at that. She reached down and took the remote from him.

"Hey!" he began

"Ash! I don't like what you're doing to yourself here! If you don't have the confidence to continue on your journey, then at least go visit some friends or something. You need the fresh air."

Ash felt like his mom just wanted him out of the house, but the more that he thought about it, the more he felt that visiting some friends may be just what he needed. So, he rose up off of the floor and said, "Thanks, mom." without a hint of sarcasm in his voice, as he left for Professor Oak's Lab with Pikachu by his side.

As he walked down the dirt road, Pikachu eventually hopped up on his shoulder. "Pikaaa?" he asked.

"I'm sure I'll be back into it eventually, Pikachu," he was half lying, "but for now, I think a visit with Tracey may be just what the doctor ordered!"

"Pika!"

As Ash eased past the large gate surrounding the lab, he walked up the winding hill path that led to the professor's estate. The living quarters were in the form of a small, rectangular house off to the side of a large half-oval with a windmill, where Professor Oak focused on his research.

Ash approached the door and knocked lightly, but since he was aware of just how big the estate was, he let himself in anyway. As he walked down the hall of the living quarters, he shouted "Professsoooor!" in hopes of locating his longtime mentor.

"Oh! Ash is that you?" came a curious, cracking voice.

Ash ran down the hall to the room on the right, the source of the voice. "Professor?" he said again, noticing an old man with gray hair and a white lab coat busily typing at a computer from his desk chair.

"Ah." Came the raspy voice again, as he turned his chair to face Ash "So, it is you!"

Ash smiled, happy to see his old friend again. "Hi, Professor! My mom suggested I come over here for a visit!"

"That's odd." He responded, "I wasn't sure what to make of it when I heard your voice. I would have guessed that you'd be off in another region by now."

Ash chuckled slightly, "Yeah. I don't think I'll be at that again for a while."

"A while? What's that supposed to mean?"

"You know, professor. Just… a while. I'm enjoying being at home for now."

"You've already been home for five weeks now, Ash." He countered "Normally, I can hardly catch you around here for one week. Is something wrong?"

Ash contemplated telling the professor how he was feeling about his latest loss, but just as he was about to speak, a small beeping noise went off in the background.

"Ah! Tea's done!" said the professor, gently getting out of his seat and making his way to the kitchen. "Would you like any, Ash?"

"Um. No thanks…" tea wasn't exactly Ash's favorite drink. "Hey, is Tracey around?"

Professor Oak looked up from the steaming teacup in his hands, having apparently completely forgotten about the conversation they were having before. "Oh, of course! He should be feeding the water Pokemon in the lake out back right now." He glanced at the clock on his wall. "If you hurry, you might be able to catch him before he moves on to the grass types."

"Thanks, Professor!" Ash smiled. He knew just where the lake was, and he sprinted out the back door so fast that Pikachu nearly fell off his shoulder.

As Ash ran through Oak's backyard ranch, he started coming upon the lake, and a figure appeared ahead standing right in front of the water, facing opposite him. However, as he got closer, he realized it was definitely not Tracey. It was a girl.

"Mis-ty…?" Ash said as he slowed his steps to the figure.

The girl turned around to reveal that she wore a yellow hoodie (hood down at the moment) with no sleeves and blue shorts. Her orange-red hair was tied back in a side ponytail fashion. Yes, this was indeed Ash's longtime friend, the Cerulean City gym leader, Misty.

"ASH!" She screamed with delight, as she leaned in and hugged the trainer, again nearly knocking Pikachu off of his shoulder.

"What… are you doing here?" Ash asked, without moving, still in shock.

"Ugh." The redhead grunted as she pulled away from her best friend. "Nice to see you again too." The sarcasm stung.

"I… I was looking for Tracey." He muttered. He was ready to talk to Tracey about his problems, but he wasn't prepared for Misty to be there. She was always… tricky… to deal with.

"I'm right here Ash." Came the voice of Ash's old friend, and Pokemon watcher/researcher, Tracey Sketchit.

Ash looked to the right slightly and noticed Tracey, not 30 feet from him, sporting a red headband and green shirt like always. He stood next to a cart of various different Pokemon foods that he was apparently feeding to the water types. "I've been here the whole time." He added.

"Um…" seeing Misty had completely caused Ash's mind to jump. "What's…up?" he asked.

"'What's up?' What's up with you?" the researcher responded "I thought for sure you'd be back on your journey by now. Haven't you been home for about a month?"

"A MONTH?!" Misty interjected, "And you didn't once even let me know you were back in town?!" She was mad now. It wasn't hard to make her mad.

"Hehe... Well I was gonna let you know eventually!" Ash defended, waving his hands in front of his face to block the daggers Misty's eyes were shooting at him. "I-I just haven't been feeling myself lately."

"Pikachu." Pikachu confirmed.

Misty's glare eased up a bit as Tracey asked, "What do you mean, Ash?"

"Well…" Ash paused a bit to collect his thoughts, still not sure if he was ready to do this in front of Misty. "It's just… about my last battle."

Tracey nodded. "Caught that one on TV."

"Right…" he began again. "It's just… after what happened there, I don't feel like I can get back into training just yet..." Misty hadn't said a word. So far, so good. "I'm always saying that I can get better at training, that I'll succeed next time, but I'm just not sure anymore. I've lost my motivation."

There was silence.

"Well that explains a lot." Misty broke it.

"What do you mean?" asked Ash

"Please," Misty said smiling slightly "You were sending me letters, like, every week while you were in Sinnoh. I started wondering why you just stopped talking to me during the heat of the Lilly of the Valley Conference."

"You get _letters?_" Tracey asked in bewilderment

Ash blushed a little and rubbed the back of his neck, "Yeah, well, I was a bit more upset than I let on."

"Didn't you think I'd see it on TV?" Misty responded back.

"No, seriously. I've gotten, like, two postcards from you. Tops." Tracey was still on the letter subject.

"Well, it's still better than me having to write about my own defeat." Ash ignored Tracey for a second time.

"Well, I still don't see what the problem is. You did great!"

"GUYS!" Tracey yelled, determined not to be ignored

"SHUT UP, TRACEY!" Misty was louder.

"I know I did great." Ash continued "In fact, the Lilly of the Valley Conference was probably the best I've been so far! But Tobias was still better."

"I don't see what you're getting at, Ash. You expected to be better than everyone?"

"No!" Ash got defensive again, "I just thought I had a chance to win a conference for once!"

"Sounds like someone forgot about the Orange Islands." Misty said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

"A _certified_ _Pokemon League_ conference." Ash said, eyes narrowed.

Misty had seen this before. Perhaps she hadn't seen it this bad before, but Misty had seen this before. She'd known Ash for so long that she had become able to recognize this funk that Ash got in when he lost a very important battle in a particular way. Tracey, on the other hand, had only traveled with Ash through the Orange Islands, and, at that particular time, Ash hardly ever lost a battle. So, Tracey backed off a bit and left this one to Misty. Besides, he occasionally enjoyed seeing the two argue. He thought that it was their way of flirting with each other.

Ash picked back up from the silence, "If I can't ever become champion of a conference recognized by the Pokemon League, then I can't ever enter the Champion's League. And if I can't ever enter the Champion's League, then I can't ever become the Pokemon Master!"

Misty decided it was time for a more aggressive tone, "Ash! The youngest Pokemon Master in history was 25 years old!" she fumed "How quickly do you expect to go through all of these leagues anyway?"

Now, Ash started to lose his cool too."You don't understand, Misty! I COULD BE in the Champion's League!"

That caught her attention. She stopped scowling at him and gave a look of confusion.

"… Or I could have at least faced Sinnoh's elite four." He continued, "Every time that I lost a conference up until now, I had accepted that I went as far as I could, but this one was different! I was at the top of my game! For once, I was doing REALLY well, Misty! I had raised some legitimately strong Pokemon and had come up with some really great strategies! With my team's hard work, I don't believe it's far fetched to say that I could have taken down every trainer at that conference…" Ash was now looking down at the ground. "…but Tobias was there. I was taken out by someone who had a minimum of two legendary Pokemon on his team! Two _legendaries_! How could I hope to top that?"

Misty began to realize that he was really upset. Maybe yelling at him wasn't the best idea. "Ash…" she tried calmly

"I've watched that battle over and over again, and I can't find A THING that I did wrong!" He said, interrupting her, "I played my cards the best I possibly could have. My training was great, but there was someone at the conference so far out of all of our leagues that I couldn't have possibly won…"

Now even Misty was upset. She wanted so badly to take back her sarcastic comments from earlier. Why couldn't they have reunited on a better note?

Ash looked up at her, making direct eye contact as he said, "I'm proud of how I did, but I'm upset with my luck. It's like the only constant in the universe is that Ash Ketchum can't win a league conference."

Misty wiped the saddened frown off her face and looked at Ash completely normally. She was not going to join his pity party, but she was understanding of the situation. Without a word, she reached around her back, took off her Spheal shaped backpack, unzipped the head, and pulled out a large blue book with a lock on it. Ash and Tracey both leaned in to see what she was doing.

"This is my diary." Misty started, "If I ever catch either of you two in here I will kill you!"

Ash and Tracey both backed up a little bit and nodded profusely, waving their hands in front of themselves. "Of course, of course!" "Wouldn't dream of it!"

"Good." She said, looking back at her book. "I keep notes about every adventure I've ever had in here."

With that, she produced a key and opened up the book, pulling three select loose pieces of paper from the pages, and she handed them to Ash.

Ash took the papers in his hand and realized that they were newspaper clippings. The headlines read "Notorious Rocket agents Annie and Oakley Finally Caught Thanks to Pallet Town Trainer, Ash Ketchum", "World Weather Crisis Solved by the Real Chosen One?", and "Young Trainer Saves Greenfield- Unown Somehow Involved?" Each clipping represented an adventure that he had been on with Misty, in which he had somehow managed to save the day.

Misty spoke up again. "It seems more to me like if there is one constant in the universe, it's that Ash Ketchum always saves the day."

Ash looked at her for a moment. Then, he looked back at the newspaper articles, thinking about what she said. "I just wish I could have the same luck that I have when saving the world while I'm battling in a conference…"

Misty was about ready to scream. How could one person care about something SO MUCH? HE HAD _SAVED THE WORLD_ for Arcues' sake!

Ash may have been dense, but Tracey could tell Misty was about to seriously blow. He needed to think of something fast.

"Hey there, Ashy-boy!" came a fourth teenage voice from behind the trio.

_'Perfect.' _Thought Tracey.

All three friends then turned around to see a young man with his hair spiked up, wearing a black shirt, khaki pants, and a lab coat. Gary Oak.

"I came over for a visit from my regular research in Sinnoh, and Gramps told me you were out here talking to Tracey. I don't think he mentioned you were here, Misty, but good to see ya, all the same."

Tracey had come to expect random visits from Gary and, seeing as how Tracey worked at Professor Oak's lab full time, he had gotten to know Gary pretty well. Tracey knew if Misty couldn't get Ash back to training, then Gary was their last hope. He gave Gary a certain look, pointing to Ash with his eyes, and nodded his head slightly. It's hard to explain, but once you've spent enough time around someone you can both talk to each other without really having to speak. Gary nodded back. He didn't know what was wrong with Ash, but he knew that Tracey wanted him to do what he liked to call "Classic Gary."

"So, Ash," he started off, upping his tone for arrogance, "I hear someone was wiped out in the last conference."

Ash was thrown back by that comment. He knew that Gary occasionally had these arrogant streaks, but things between him and his former rival had really improved over time. He wasn't expecting for Gary to immediately start bashing him.

"Well, Ashy-boy? Meowth got your tongue?"

Ash started off slowly "No… I didn't win the Lilly of the Valley Conference…"

"Well, no duh. It doesn't exactly take an alakazam to predict that one. I was talking about your _wipe out!_"

Okay. Now this was getting annoying. "What the heck does that even _mean_, Gary?" Ash said, his tone growing more aggravated

"It _MEEEAAAAANS_ that you can't battle anymore. Someone totaled you so bad that you aren't competing anymore. Your journey is over. You've been creamed. Destroyed. Wiped out."

"Alright, I never said THAT!" Ash was starting to shout now. "I just think I might need a break is all! No new regions for a while. Maybe I'll look at taking up the position I was offered as Frontier Brain by Brandon!"

The group was silent. Ash hadn't mentioned _that_ to any of them. He was thinking of abandoning his dream? Gary now knew exactly why they needed him.

Misty almost said something, but Tracey covered her mouth quickly. She glared at him, but he nodded to her, as if to say, '_Let Gary work._'

"Heh. Typical." He started up again "Ol' Ashy can't achieve his own dream, so he's gonna go live behind one that someone else made up for him!"

"HEY!" Ash was really getting into it now, "Agatha once told me that the Frontier Brains were on par with the majority of the Elite Four! What does that tell you, Gary?"

"It tells me that the hag is getting too old to remember some really important stuff." He responded chuckling a little. "After all, you've beaten all of the Frontier Brains, but you couldn't beat ONE of the Elite Four of any region if your life depended on it!"

"I CAN SO BEAT THE ELITE FOUR!"

Misty and Tracey were now ecstatic. Earlier Ash was saying he couldn't win a conference, now he was saying he could beat the Elite Four!

"Please, Ashy," Gary started, looking him straight in the eyes. "_You couldn't even beat me._"

"THAT'S IT!" Ash shouted, stomping his foot on the floor, "We're already at your grandpa's stupid lab! You get your six strongest Pokemon, I'll get my six strongest, and we'll see who beats who!"

"Fine." Gary smirked "I'll see you back at this spot to get your butt handed to ya in half an hour."

"FINE!" Ash shouted

"Now, hurry up!" Gary added "I wanna beat you before your girlfriend has to leave!" He knew that one always struck a nerve.

"SHE'S NOT MY GIRLFRIEND!" Ash screamed as he stomped off to gather his team.

As soon as he left, Tracey let out a huge grin. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" he said.

"No problem." Gary responded, smiling, "Ash must have really taken that loss hard, huh?"

"You saw it too?" Misty asked

"Yeah, Tobias is strong trainer, but ya can't keep Ash down for long! He'll reach his dream eventually."

"I was really worried about him this time." Misty said.

"You would be." Gary smirked again.

"Don't take my lack of a response as agreement, Gary." Misty's eyes narrowed "He's NOT my boyfriend."

"Whatever you say. I just-"

"Um, guys?" Tracey interjected "Where did all the water Pokemon go?"

Misty and Gary turned to the lake and noticed it was now completely absent of Pokemon.

"That's…weird." Gary commented.

"There they are!" Misty pointed toward the shore. Many water Pokemon were crouching down in the grass near the lake.

"Why are they doing that?" Tracey asked

Gary, having seen a similar phenomenon in Sinnoh, mentioned, "They sense something…"

"What?"

Misty now interjected "When water Pokemon sense something wrong with the environment, the water breathers dive deep into the water, and the air breathers run to the shore and crouch. They're preparing for whatever is coming."

"I-I still don't think I understand…" Tracey tried.

"Let's say a storm is coming." said Gary, "In order to prevent the winds from tossing them to the shore, the water breathers dive deeper, and in order to prevent the waves from drowning them, the air breathers get to shore."

Tracey looked up into the sunny, clear sky. "But… I don't see a storm coming," he said.

"Pokemon are more in tune with nature than we are." Gary stared at the water. "Anything could be going on…"

* * *

**More Author's Notes: I hope you enjoyed this chapter! As you can see, although the "Pokemon Adventures" world is currently in a future timeline, the anime world is exploring the time between Ash's return from Sinnoh and his departure to Unova. After all, we don't know how long he was at home, and I think I can fit a short adventure in there. I hope no one thought Ash was too out of character, as he does not usually get THAT upset. I do hate Tobias, though. I thought it was a cheap writer's trick to keep Ash out of the Sinnoh League finals, and I DO NOT blame him for the reaction depicted in this Fic. I mean, let's face it, despite the hate some people give him, Ash is a REALLY GOOD trainer. He has saved the world plenty of times, come up with great strategies, and beaten some very powerful foes. Why the heck can't he win a league? The writers are jerks. Reviews are always appreciated.**


	3. Round 3: Legends Collide

**Author's Note: I've gotta say, I'm impressed at how well this Fic is being received. This is only my first one, after all. I simply realized that not many people have really played around with a Pokemon anime/manga crossover, and I thought it was a good opportunity to bring something new to the table. A special shout out to kitsunelover300, who gave me my first review... ever. Seriously man, I appreciate it. In fact, while we are on the subject, I'd like to trick- I mean convince- anyone else reading this Fic to give me their full opinion as well. Of course, it's by no means required that you do this, but I would be grateful. Most of the reason for me writing this story is to see how others react to my style. Did I portray the characters well? Did it keep you engaged? Were you aware of what was going on? You know, I just want to tell a good story. Anyway, again I hope that no one is annoyed by this round if it focuses too much on characters they are less familiar with. I'm trying to portray every main character equally, and no one is supposed to upstage the other. It is a lot harder than it sounds, but hopefully that won't be an issue after this chapter since... whoops! Don't want to give away spoilers! Anyway, hope you enjoy it.  
**

**Ship Warning: Luckyshipping and maybe some OldRivalshipping if you squint?  
**

**I do not own or have any rights to any part of the Pokemon franchise whatsoever. **

* * *

Water Pokemon weren't the only ones acting up. In fact, nearly every Pokemon within a five mile radius of Professor Oak's lab seemed to be crouching, diving, burrowing, or teleporting due to some unseen force. They could each feel a disturbance, some disruption in the average spacetime flow. Something was moving toward their world, and that something appeared near the edge of a small forest just outside of Pallet. The portal ripped its way into reality, dropped four figures in the grass, and left.

The misplaced pokedex holders and crime boss moaned in pain from the fall for a few minutes. Interdimensional travel was rough, and each trainer lay on the ground, eyes closed. However, soon enough they began to slowly awake and observe their surroundings.

Blue was the first to get a good look at the trees and bushes around him. He noticed that they had more color in them than normal plants, and the sunlight somehow had more light to it. He held his hand up to his face, curiously eying the motion he had made. Things were moving in a more fluid manner than he was used to. Everything seemed more colorful, more motion filled, more… animated.

"What is this place?" spoke Green "…Everything seems so… different. I've never seen anything like this before."

Red was just as stunned as his companions. He sat up and slowly turned his head around this new environment. He wasn't sure what to think, shocked to complete silence, until he noticed Giovanni sitting next to him, gazing around just as curiously.

"YOU!" He shouted as he jumped to his feet, pointing a pokeball at the crime boss.

Blue and Green quickly remembered the situation and did the same. Giovanni stood to his feet and raised his arms in the air, surrounded on three sides by very angry teenagers with aimed pokeballs. "Now what do you plan on doing with those?" he asked.

"What do you _think_ we're going to do with these?" Red responded in a very serious tone.

"Now, now," chuckled Giovanni, "Would you be foolish enough to attack me out here?"

Red raised an eyebrow in confusion as the boss carried on, "Moments ago, we were all in a stony chamber with a mysterious legendary that is rumored to have control over dimensional planes. Now, we just opened our eyes to find ourselves in an unknown forest with a strange atmosphere surrounding us. It's clear by simple deduction that we aren't in Kansas anymore."

"Well, at least we got that out of the way." muttered Blue, "I was suspecting the same thing."

Giovanni stared directly at Red now. "What are you going to do?" he asked, "If you attack me, there may not be a sentient being on this planet to arrest me. Or perhaps there is an intelligent species here, maybe even a civilization, but that doesn't mean that they will have the same moral compass as you. In fact, if such a species lives here, they may find pleasure in killing all of us and our Pokemon. We're all in the same boat now. We need to put aside our differences. Do you really want to attack me and lower our chances for survival here?"

Red took that in for a moment. He hadn't considered all those possibilities. He certainly didn't want to be slaughtered by some extradimentional monster, but he didn't feel that he could trust Giovanni either.

"Fine." Said Green, "But I'm taking your Pokemon."

Red and Blue both looked at her.

"Just… for insurance." She assured, "…I don't want him trying something tricky."

"Ugh. Fine." Grunted the boss.

With Giovanni's hands still in the air, Green bent down and took all 6 of the pokeballs he had on him.

"Toss Red and I two of those each." Said Blue as he eyed Green suspiciously.

"Aw, come on, Blue. After all these years, you still don't trust me?" she responded in a teasing voice.

"I never trust noisy women like you." Blue said, without missing a beat.

Green tossed the obligatory pokeballs to her two friends, and then she stood back up next to Giovanni.

"Well?" he started, "Are you two going to stop pointing those things at me or what?"

Red snapped back to the situation and realized that he and Blue still had their arms out, aiming their pokeballs at Giovanni. "Whoops." He said, lowering his arm. Blue did the same.

"Now, how do we plan on getting out of here?" asked Giovanni.

"I'm not sure," said Blue, "But it's probably not safe to stay in this one spot for much longer."

"Agreed," said Red, "We should at least do _something_. Standing around here isn't solving anything."

"Can we actually get back to our homes, though?" Green interjected.

"Right now, let's just focus on survival." Said Red. "We'll start by trying to see if there is any kind of civilization near by."

"What if the civilization is hostile?" Giovanni pointed out again.

"We'll worry about possible hostiles once we know if there is any actual civilization." Blue defended.

After a few minutes of discussion, the group decided that they would walk toward the right of the forest in a defensive circle in case any monsters attacked them. Red faced the front, leading the group, Blue faced Red's right, Green faced his left, and Giovanni faced backwards. They slowly pressed onward, completely unaware of the three people watching them from the sky in a large balloon shaped like a meowth head.

* * *

"Looks like the twerp picked up some new friends." Said a purple haired man named James, as he looked at Red through a pair of high-powered binoculars.

"But… where's Pikachu?" added his redheaded female companion, Jessie, who was looking through a similar piece of technology.

"Huh?" said James, "I hadn't noticed. Where _is _Pikachu?"

"Hey! Dat aint the only weird ting going on here!" added a small cat Pokemon, named Meowth, as he peeked through his own smaller binoculars, "Is dat the boss followin' dem twerps?"

"What?" "Where?" shouted Jessie and James, as they pointed their binoculars to the back of the traveling quartet, where the rocket boss, Giovanni, brought up the rear.

"It can't be…" started James, his eyes full of shock.

"But how?" added Jessie

"Aint it obvious?" Meowth retorted, feeling quite clever.

Jessie and James put the binoculars down for a moment, and they turned toward their feline companion to hear his explanation. "It's clear to me dat after all of our failed attempts at capturin' dat twerp's pikachu, da boss decided dat he would go after Pikachu himself, but da twerp proved too powerful for even da boss to handle solo! So, after destroyin' da boss's plan wit his Pokemon, the twerp and his friends took him prisoner!"

"Oh, no!" Gasped James, "If the police find out who the boss is, Team Rocket will be ruined!"

"Luckily for us, it looks like dey haven't made it back to a town yet." Meowth pointed out.

"What should we do?" shouted James still panicking

Jessie smiled.

"What are you so happy about?" asked James

"Don't you see?" the woman smiled as she grabbed James by the shirt, "This just made our jobs twice as easy!"

"How do ya figure dat?" asked Meowth

"Normally, we fail because we can't capture Pikachu," she started, still grinning, "but this time, all we have to do to get on the boss' good side, is rescue him from those twerps!"

James suddenly lightened up as well. "Yeah!" he said, "Our plan only has to go half right for us to win!"

"And then it will be promotions, vacation time, and bonus checks galore!" squealed Jessie

"But we're still gonna make a grab for da Pokemon, aint we?" Meowth asked in a concerned tone.

"Oh, of course!" Jessie chirped, "In fact, start up the Pokeball Plucker 2000, and have it ready for use by the time the twerps enter the next clearing!"

"You got it!" said the cat.

"They're headed right for Professor Oak's lab." Jessie mused. "We'll have them before they even reach the gate."

* * *

"Sceptiiiiile!" shouted Ash, as he pushed through some brush.

"PIIIIKA!" added Pikachu from the top of his master's head.

"I know you hang out here!" he shouted again.

Ash had gathered five of the six Pokemon he planned to use against Gary. He had taken his buizel from the lake earlier. He had found Snorlax, awake surprisingly, in an open field. He discovered Gliscor hanging upside down from a tree. He placed a quick phone call to a friend of his, Liza, who transferred over his charizard. And, of course, Pikachu was riding on his head at the moment. He wanted his last Pokemon to be Sceptile, but he could not seem to find it anywhere.

"Scep!" said a quick, deep voice nearby.

"Huh?" Ash turned around to find Sceptile's green face nearly touching his. "WAAAHHHH!" he shouted, as he backed up out of shock, throwing Pikachu clear from his perch.

"PIKA!" he shouted.

Sceptile was hanging upside down from a tree branch, and he chuckled a little when Ash fell backwards.

"Hey! What's the big idea?" Ash said, slightly aggravated.

"Scep! Scep!" Sceptile shouted as he pointed up to the treetop.

"Huh? You want me to come up there with you?" He asked

"Tile!" the creature shouted, before jumping to the top of the tree, above the leaves and out of Ash's sight.

Ash and Pikachu looked at each other for a second.

"Chu." The Pokemon said, and Ash just shrugged and shimmied up the tree (he was an excellent climber).

As Ash reached the top, he noticed Sceptile standing up straight and looking off into the distance, above the tree line. Ash looked in the same direction and gasped when he saw a meowth shaped hot air balloon not far from the ranch.

"Team Rocket!" he muttered with disdain.

"Sceptile." His Pokemon confirmed, nodding its head.

"I've gotta get the drop on them before they come in here and start stealing all the Pokemon!" Ash added.

Sceptile looked toward its master, and Ash held a pokeball out toward his old friend. A red beam emitted from the ball and surrounded Sceptile entirely before pulling him into the small capture device.

"Well, everybody's here." Ash remarked, as he glanced from his pokeball to the big balloon. "I might as well go now."

* * *

As the dex holders continued to walk through the mysterious forest, Red began to notice a large windmill ahead of him.

"Hey." he said, "I think I found something…"

The rest of the party then turned toward his gaze and noticed the large structure as well.

"Remember, we need to approach cautiously." Blue reminded

"Right." Said Red, as the party slowly moved toward a small clearing that lay before the windmill.

All the sudden, several small explosions started around the group, and smoke began to surround them on all sides! Everyone began to cough and cover their mouths, desperately trying to see through the fog to determine what had happened.

"-What's goi-ng o-on?" Red chocked out.

As if to answer his question, a large silhouette became barely visible through the intense smoke. Two figures stood atop the structure and began to speak:

"Listen, is that a voice I hear?"

"It's speaking to me loud and clear."

The smoke began to clear, revealing a man with purple hair, a woman with red hair, and a meowth, standing atop a green basket that hung from a meowth shaped balloon. The ambushed group gasped when they noticed the large red 'R' on the humans' white uniforms. "Team Rocket?" Red shouted in disbelief.

"On the wind!"

"Past the stars!"

"In your ear!"

"Bringing chaos at a breakneck pace!"

"Dashing hope, putting fear in its place!"

"A rose by any other name's just as sweet."

"When everything's worse our work is complete!"

"Jessie!" introduced the woman.

"And it's James!" grinned the man.

"And Meowth! Now dat's a name!" shouted the cat.

"Putting the do-gooders in their place!"

"We're Team Rocket!"

"WE'RE IN YOUR FACE!" shouted the whole trio.

"Wooobbuffet!" added a wobbuffet that emerged from its ball.

Giovanni smiled. He did not know how there were rockets in this forest, but he also didn't care.

"H-how did you-" began Green, before being interrupted by James.

"Haven't you realized yet, twerp, that Team Rocket never gives up?" he shouted.

"Now _you_ should give up da boss!" Meowth added.

The group was too shocked to realize what was going on, but Giovanni jumped at the opportunity, running from the group and toward the hot air balloon without a second thought.

Red caught on to what was happening right as Giovanni passed him. "Oh no you don't!" he shouted as he grabbed the back of the crime boss' shirt.

Giovanni simply turned around and kneed Red in the stomach, causing him to buckle over in pain.

"Red!" shouted Green, as she too snapped out of the daze.

Jessie noticed the boss rushing toward her balloon, and she threw a rope ladder down the side of the basket. Giovanni jumped and grabbed onto the ropes to start his climb upward.

Red was stunned from his blow to the stomach, and Green was by his side, checking on her injured friend. However, Blue had reached for the first pokeball he could find. It was Charizard, Blue's strongest Pokemon. "HOLD IT!" he shouted to the criminals.

Giovanni stopped half way up the ladder, and the trio in the balloon looked ahead at Blue, who held his pokeball toward the team.

"I've got a charizard in this pokeball!" He announced. "If you take that man, I'll send your entire balloon soaring through the sky!"

"Hm." Jessie smiled with confidence. "That's what you think, kiddo!"

"Did you really think we would leave here without our real loot, twerps?" James taunted.

Red looked up from where he crouched. "Real loot?" he asked Green.

"Here we go!" shouted Meowth, as he jumped from inside the basket, holding a large hose attached to a square metal machine. He flipped a small switch on the hose, and a massive sucking power began.

Blue's pokeball was sucked right out of his hand and traveled toward the hose, consumed by the device. Soon after, all of his other pokeballs began to be ripped from him and his friends as well. He reached out in a panic and was only able to grab a hold of his golduck.

"OH NO!" shouted Green, as all of her pokeballs began to fly from her as well. She reached her hands out, grasping for her Pokemon in a flurry, unable to touch any of them.

Red may have been hurt, but he wasn't crippled. He jumped for his pokeballs as they flew from his grasp. He kept his eye on Poli, his poliwrath and oldest companion. "OVER MY DEAD BODY!" he shouted, as he descended on the pokeball containing his friend.

Giovanni had climbed up to the balloon at this point, and he looked at his rescuers face-toface. "You missed a few." He said with a smirk.

"Not for long." Smiled Jessie, as she held up her own pokeball.

"We'll take care of this." Said James, doing the same.

The two threw their pokeballs to the ground, ready to take the two remaining Pokemon by force. A seviper emerged from Jessie's pokeball and a carnivine from James'. They struck a fierce fighting stance… until Carnivine jumped back to the balloon and put James' head in its mouth as if it were trying to eat him.

Red, Blue, and Green all sweatdropped.

"No! No! No!" James yelled at it, grabbing it off of his head. "Not in front of the boss! Attack them!" he threw it back toward the ground, into battle.

Red stood in front of an unarmed Green, as he threw his remaining pokeball. "You've got this, Poli!" he yelled.

"Go, Golduck!" shouted Blue, as he prepared to assist his friend.

"Since when has the twerp nicknamed his Pokemon?" asked James.

"Never mind that!" shouted Jessie. "Keep your head in the battle! Seviper, use Poison Tail!"

"Carnivine! Vine Whip!" added James.

However, before either Pokemon could do anything, Blue shouted "Hydro Pump!" and his golduck lunged toward the duo, blasting water from its beak.

Seviper and Carnivine were knocked across the field, and Golduck chased after them.

"Alright!" said Red, "Poli! Help Golduck out with a-"

Green put her hand on Red's shoulder from behind. "Really, Red? A Pokemon battle?" she asked.

"Well, _yeah_." He shot back.

"In case you forgot, sweetie, THEY'RE the ones who have our Pokemon!" she shouted, as she pointed at the two rocket operatives.

"Oh. Right." Red smirked, as he looked at his poliwrath.

"Uh… I don't like the look on his face!" Said James.

"Hey! I tink I found Pikachu…" Meowth mentioned, as he pulled one of the pokeball's out of their machine. He was just about to note how strange it was that he could see through the pokeball, when Red shouted, "Poli! Water gun that basket!"

Poli shot a huge string of water at the trio's balloon basket, causing it to capsize and dump all of its contents to the forest floor below; Jessie, James, Meowth, Giovanni…

The machine containing all of the pokeballs.

"Oh, no!" shouted Meowth.

"That's not fair!" added James.

With Golduck still busy fighting Seviper and Carnivine, Red cried, "Now, Poli, Focus Punch that machine!"

"NOOOOOOOO!" Shouted the rockets, as Poli reared back to attack their precious pokeball container.

"Stop him, Cloyster!" commanded Giovanni, right before his large, hard-shelled Cloyster jumped in front of the attack, blocking the blow. He had found his six pokeballs in the machine earlier, and he planned on using them.

"Ha! We're actually going to win!" cheered Jessie.

"Oh, no, you won't!" said Red, as he glared at Giovanni, ready for battle. The boss had six Pokemon, and he had one. Blue was dealing with Team Rocket's two Pokemon, but Red wasn't sure how many more Pokemon the trio might have. He knew things didn't look good, but he wasn't about to give up just because he was outnumbered.

"Pikachu, Thunderbolt!" shouted a voice emerging from the forest.

Ash had arrived at the spot he saw Team Rocket attacking. They seemed to be bothering some other kids for a change, but he wasn't about to let them get away with it.

Pikachu jumped into the air and let out a large electric shock that fried Giovanni's cloyster and the pokeball machine.

"NO!" shouted Giovanni, as his cloyster fainted and the machine exploded, causing pokeballs to fly everywhere.

"Alright!" cheered Red. He didn't know who had just done that, but he was too busy grabbing at falling pokeballs to care.

"Am I seeing doubles?!" said James, as he looked between Ash and Red.

"What are two twerps doing here?!" Jessie asked in confusion.

Red looked across the field for a moment and he noticed the boy who looked remarkably like him. The one he assumed had commanded that Thunderbolt. Ash simply nodded at Red and gave him a thumbs up before shouting, "Alright, Pikachu! Blast them outta here!"

"PIIIIKA-CHUUU!" shouted the rodent, as it let loose a powerful electric shock on the three rockets, their Pokemon, and Giovanni. The team screamed in pain, as the ground around them exploded, sending them blasting off high into the sky.

As they soared through the air, James said, "Okay. I'm really confused right now…"

"So, what else is new?" asked Jessie.

"I can tell ya one thing that _aint _new…" Meowth began.

"WE'RE BLASTING OFF AGAIN!" they yelled. "Wait… what?" added Giovanni, as the group flew out of sight.

Meanwhile, back on the ground, Red, Blue, and Green were still gathering up their pokeballs.

"Hey, are you guys okay?" asked Ash as he walked toward the dex holders. However, he stopped in awe as he came close enough to Red to look at him well.

Red stopped picking up his pokeballs too, and he looked toward his strange doppleganger.

Blue and Green observed the interaction going on, and they stopped in silence as well. Nobody said a thing. They were too distracted by the odd situation at hand.

"Hey, Ash! You okay?" came Tracey's voice, as he, Misty, and Gary scrambled out of the forest nearest the lab.

"When we saw Team Rocket's balloon, we ran over here as fast as we could!" added Misty.

However, continuing the trend, this group stopped as well, and they observed the strange travelers Ash had come across. Gary sat his eyes on, not Red, but Blue. The boy was nearly a perfect clone of Gary.

The two groups stood in the clearing for an eternity. Then, Green finally said, "So… I'm Green, and this is Red and Blue."

* * *

**More Author's Notes: Lol, well, there is Team Rocket, folks! I'm not a HUGE fan of theirs, but I enjoy the comic relief. I think up until now I've done a pretty good job of introducing all of the characters and their interesting quirks just in case someone is unfamiliar with them. However, hopefully no one needed me to explain why Team Rocket started rambling off into their motto as soon as they appeared to Red, Blue, and Green. Overall,**** I think the chapter turned out decent. I hope no manga fans are upset that Red nearly lost out to the remarkably hapless Team Rocket trio. Red, Blue, and Green would have pulverized Team Rocket had Giovanni not stepped in like he did. That gave me the perfect opportunity to introduce Ash. What can I say? That boy has a habit of always showing up in the nick of time! Anyway, until next time!  
**


	4. Round 4: Off to a Rough Start

**Author's Note: Well, this one took longest to upload out of any chapter yet, but hopefully the fact that it is also the longest chapter will incline you to forgive me. This is the interaction you've all been waiting for. Two famed legends finally meet. How will it go down? Read and find out.**

**Ship Warning:**** Specialshipping, Pokeshipping, Luckyshipping, OldRivalshipping, MangaQuestshipping if you look for it, and a mention of MangaPokeshipping.  
**

******I do not own or have any rights to any part of the Pokemon franchise whatsoever. **

* * *

"And you're sure it was the work of Giratina?" asked Professor Oak.

"Positive." Replied Gold, as he spoke to the old man through his pokegear. Yellow, Crystal, and Silver were standing about two feet from him, leaning their heads in to hear the conversation. None of the dex holders were really sure how to go about rescuing someone from another dimension, so naturally, they called Professor Oak on the subject as soon as they reached the Pokemon center in Veilstone City. Gold was fine with using his pokegear outside of his calling zone if it meant rescuing his seniors, but now Yellow was leaning on him a little too much and Crystal wasn't leaning on him _enough_. He wanted to get this conversation over with as soon as possible.

Of course, the professor was a little shocked. After all, three of his closest pupils, including HIS OWN GRANDSON, had been swallowed up by a mysterious void! He was having a bit of trouble concentrating. "Well…" his voice crackled over the pokegear, "…from what you've told me, I think we can determine that the void was definitely some sort of portal to another area." He stopped for a moment, collecting his thoughts. "Yes… It just wouldn't make much sense if Giratina were using the void as some kind of attack, because you mentioned that none of you had seen it release such a void up until that point in the battle and it also seemed to actively seek out select individuals."

"So, do you think Crys was on to something?" Yellow shouted into the pokegear, as she pushed up closer to Gold. _'This girl is going to knock me over.' _He thought

"Was Giratina just trying to save us?" she asked again.

There was another pause.

"Well, I don't think we can be sure of that." He responded, "Giratina is a very mysterious Pokemon. Few people have ever seen it, and little research has been done on it. It may have reasons that we cannot even comprehend for taking Blue and the others."

The entire group sighed at that.

"But I do think that the theory of dimensional transportation is a solid one in this case!" he said again, hoping to lighten the mood.

"Professor!" Silver started, as he leaned closer onto Gold than the boy liked, "If Giratina _did_ simply kidnap them-"

"Don't worry Silver." Oak interrupted. "We all know that you and Green have had bad experiences with kidnappings in the past. All I am saying is that there are far too many possible reasons for Giratina to take the four. It does not necessarily mean that it had nefarious intentions."

Silver calmed down a little at that. The professor was right. That was a soft spot for him. As children, he and Green had been kidnapped by a high-ranking member of Team Rocket. Silver acted like he was over the incident, but in truth, he had never fully recovered.

It was then that Crystal leaned up as close to Gold's pokegear as possible, and she finally asked the question that everyone had been wondering. "Is there any way to rescue them?" she almost whispered.

The professor did not respond. He was gathering his thoughts. He was taking everything in. He had an idea, but he was not sure how well it would work.

"Professor?" Gold asked, just as curious as his companions.

"...I might have something." He finally said, though he was still in mid-thought.

At the sound of those words, Gold was hopelessly smothered by the three friends surrounding him, as they all leaned on top of him in order to hear whatever the professor said next.

'_Can't…breathe…' _thought the young trainer.

"Well, you all left Turnback Cave as soon as your friends disappeared, right?" he finally continued.

"Yes." They all confirmed at once.

"Then, I assume that Team Rocket succeeded in capturing Giratina?"

No one answered that one. None of them had even thought about that. As soon as Yellow had run out of the cave crying, the three others just followed her, and once she shared with them what she had seen, everyone completely forgot about Giratina. _They left Giratina with the rockets!_

"Oh… oh no!" Yellow began, in a panicked voice. "We left Giratina there! Team Rocket has a legendary Pokemon because of us!"

"Now, now. Calm down." Said Professor Oak from the other side of the pokegear, "It's perfectly fine. You were probably terrified for your friends. However, Giratina is the only one who knows for sure where they are."

Gold slammed his palm against his face. "We have to get him back…" he realized.

"Precisely." Said Oak. "Even if there was another way for me to get you to an alternate dimension, you would have no way of knowing which dimension your seniors were taken to. Theoretically, you could spend the rest of your lives searching an infinite number of dimensions, never to see any of them again."

The teens gulped at the thought of that.

"In fact, traveling to another dimension is incredibly dangerous even when you _do_ know where you're going!" he started again, "The dimension in question may have monsters, a complete lack of air, disregard for common laws that our world follows, or a number of other factors. Some who play around with this study even wonder if Giratina's power extends to every world."

"You mean… we could go to one world and be stuck with no way out?" Silver tried.

"Yes." Said the professor.

Yet another awkward silence enveloped the teens. Would they really risk such a fate?

"Well," began Yellow in a dramatic fashion, "That's fine with me."

Her three friends looked at her.

"If it means rescuing Red, I don't care if we never see our world again! Our friends need our help!" she stated matter-of-factly.

"Yeah!" said Gold. "I hear that!" he then turned back to his pokegear, "We'll do whatever it takes, Prof!"

"I'm in too!" said Silver.

"And Gold would be lost without me!" Crystal teased.

Professor Oak expected no different response, and although none of the teens could see it, he smiled on the other end of the pokegear.

"Well then," he started, "I suggest you start by finding Team Rocket. The fact that they are now leaderless should give you some time to get to them and retrieve Giratina."

"Let's do it!" shouted Gold.

* * *

Professor Oak was definitely right about Team Rocket being stalled. In fact, the organization had called a meeting to decide who would be leader in Giovanni's absence. Nearly every member was attending to vote at said meeting in order to prevent some kind of power struggle. The struggle was probably going to happen anyway, but this method at least lowered the _amount_ of struggle. Only one rocket remained away from the meeting. His name was Eric Coleman, and he sat at his desk, leaning back in his chair with full confidence that he would win the election being held.

Eric's appearance was no different than that of any brown eyed, low-level grunt, because that is exactly what he was. It was not until that very morning that he gained an upper hand in the organization by being the rocket to ultimately capture Giratina. The Pokemon turned out to be a great bargaining chip, and there was not a single rocket in the organization that did not know him now. Even the executives feared him.

He tossed the pokeball that contained his bargaining chip up in the air from his desk, and he held his hand below to catch it. He repeated his solo catching game over and over again with a smirk on his face. Things were definitely looking up for Eric.

Just then, another grunt entered into his room. He was decently tall, but neither his eyes nor his hair were visible from the tilt of his black hat.

"Hey!" Eric shouted in surprise, as he sat up straight in his chair, "Why aren't you at the meeting with the others?"

"Well… why aren't you?" asked the grunt.

"Please, with _this_ I can do what I want." He said, holding the pokeball in front of his face.

"Yes…" started the grunt, as he walked toward Eric, smirking, "Let me give you some advice."

"Hey! What are you doin'?" Eric looked at him seriously. "I don't like the look on your face!"

The grunt removed his hat to reveal that he was, in fact, Lance, of the Elite Four, dressed as a Rocket grunt. "You really shouldn't show your Pokemon off like that." He said with a grin.

"H-hey! Hey!" shouted Eric, as he stood up, readying the pokeball for battle, "You better not come an inch closer to me!"

Lance stopped walking.

"H-how did you get in here?" he asked in a gasping voice.

Lance looked the man in the eyes. "I was at the cave. I followed you." He admitted, "And I think I might know a little bit more about that Pokemon than you do."

"You- you know what?" Eric asked, still shaking from the intruder.

"Well, first of all, if you give him to me, I think I can find your boss." He smiled.

Eric chuckled. "Is that all?" he asked, "Personally, I don't mind him bein' gone. Now I get a chance to run things."

Lance's smile disappeared. "You know what I can't figure out, Eric?" he began, "Why has no one tried to take that pokeball from you?"

Eric laughed at that one. He flat-out laughed. "You really wanna take your chances in a battle against this beast?" he inquired, pointing at the pokeball in his right hand.

"Oh… I don't think there is any need for that." Lance smiled again, as a dragonite walked up behind the unsuspecting Eric.

Two minutes later, a tall, redheaded Rocket grunt left the room with Giratina's pokeball in hand.

* * *

Meanwhile, back in Professor Oak's living room, Red, Blue, and Green had just brought Ash and his friends up to speed on the day's events; the resulting silence was too thick to cut with a knife.

Ash simply slouched back in the couch between Misty and Gary as he turned the story over in his head. Giratina. Alternate dimensions. He had seen some strange things on his travels, but this story was still a hard one for him to take in. His mind ran in circles as he stared at the three counterparts sitting on the couch across from his.

Tracey stood with a blank face next to Professor Oak, who had also listened to the trio's story from the comfort of his wooden rocking chair. Tracey turned toward the elderly scientist. "…Well?" he asked.

The professor took another sip of his tea, and he looked at the three new children with a confident glance. "_Well,_" he began, "I suppose you three want us to get you back home, so you can check on the friends you left there."

"Wait a minute! You believe them?" asked Ash, in a shocked expression.

"Well, of course I believe them." He responded coolly, "I have no reason not to."

Ash stopped for a second. He had a point. The three were being harassed by Team Rocket when he showed up, so the idea that the strange guests had any ties with _them_ was a little ridiculous. It was also pretty hard to otherwise mend the fact that Red and Blue looked nearly _identical_ to Ash and Gary, minus the clothes and lack of a pikachu.

Realizing that the boy was out of words, Professor Oak simply gave him a serious look and broke the situation down into basic logic. "Too many things add up." He said bluntly. "These three claim to have come from a different dimension. We have decent evidence that other dimensions exist, that Giratina can travel through them, and that these three are not familiar with our world." He cast his eyes back at the travelers. "Take a good look at their waists." He continued, eying the strange see-through pokeballs that adorned the trio. "I've been around the block quite a bit, but I've never seen a pokeball like that before. Not even one."

Ash had to admit, that was pretty unusual.

"I remember hearing of an _attempt_ to make see-through pokeballs at one point, but that project was abandoned years ago, when the researcher attempting it determined that we do not have the elements needed to create such a thing."

Tracey now decided it was his turn to add in. "Yeah, and it would also have to be a pretty big coincidence that Red and Blue, here, look just like you and Gary." He nodded.

"That's the part that is really confusing to me…" Red interjected. "In my homeworld, there is a Professor Oak just like you." He pointed at the gray haired man, who in turn, smiled at him. "I also know a Misty, a Team Rocket, and have a pikachu just like Ash." His eyes darted throughout the room at the various individuals. "…How?" he deadpanned.

"Hmmmm…" the professor closed his eyes. "Well, it is theorized by the various people who study the multiverse concept that dimensions exist in an environment comparable to that of a 2-D space…"

Everyone in the room now looked at him in interest.

"Er…" he moaned as he put his hand on his head. "Kind of like…" his eyes snapped open. "Ah! Kind of like you and me, Red."

Red raised an eyebrow, imploring him to elaborate.

He smiled and started again. "You see, Red, if we ignore our 3 dimensional elements and simply pretend that you and I are in a space with only length and width, all that matters is the distance you are from me." He looked around the room. "Ash is also a certain distance from you, Misty is a certain distance from Ash, Blue is a certain distance from Misty, etc."

Red nodded at this.

"Well, some theories suggest that if we use this linear, two dimensional model of the multiverse, the universes existing farther from each other have more differences than do the universes existing nearer each other."

"So…" Gary jumped in. "You're saying that because our universes are closer, there are more similarities between them?"

"Exactly." He smiled at his grandson for being the first to fully grasp it. "It's clear that in our dimension, Ash is our Red, and Gary is our Blue." He then closed his eyes and nodded slowly, satisfied with that theory.

"Wait." Said Green, "What about me?"

Everyone looked at her.

"It's clear that Misty isn't supposed to be me because she looks nothing like me and we have another Misty in my world. So, where is my counterpart?"

The professor thought on that for a moment. "Honestly?" he asked.

Green leaned toward him and nodded slowly with a curious look on her face.

"…I've never seen anyone like you in my life!" he finished.

Green nearly fell over out of embarrassment.

Ash, however, was still skeptical about the whole situation. "I don't know." He said, raising an eyebrow. "It just seems too strange…"

Misty sighed, as she rolled her eyes at her best friend. "Really, Ash? After all you've been through, _you_ are the one having a hard time believing this?"

"Aw, come on, Misty!" the boy shot back. "It _does _sound kinda crazy!"

"Of course it sounds crazy! That's my point! Your life is crazy, Ash! You've seen stuff that most people would never believe in a billion years! You… _You've_ traveled to another dimension for Arceus' sake!"

"I have not!" he argued.

"If your letters are true, then you have, Ash." She smiled at that. Even though Misty hadn't seen Ash in forever, apparently she was still more aware of what the boy had been up to than he was. "Remember? The Reverse World?"

Ash's eyes widened at that. Had he told her about that? "Oh… yeah…" he let out an awkward chuckle and rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. "I guess you have been reading my letters…"

Green nudged Red a bit and tilted her head toward the professor, as if to say, "Ask him!"

Red nodded in response and let out a deep sigh before turning to face Professor Oak again. "Professor…" he began, as the researcher looked toward him with a light smile. "We've had a pretty hectic day. We've battled a ton of rockets, we found this strange world, and we met… well… basically ourselves…" he motioned toward Ash and Gary. "But… being here and seeing you again makes me feel at home…"

Professor Oak broke in, assuming he knew where this was going. "If you need a place to rest for a few days, feel free to stay here." He offered.

Blue looked up from his couch. "You can get us back, can't you?" he asked.

Gary smiled. "So, he does speak."

Green chuckled. "Blue is kind of the quiet type…" she explained.

"Pfft. Noisy woman." Responded Blue. "I'd just like to get out of here as soon as possible."

At that, Red's face immediately turned from a relaxed complexion to one of dire concern. "Hold on!" he said. Blue shot him a glance. "We can't go now! We lost Giovanni."

Blue shrugged. "Forget about him." He said. "It's not our problem."

"No." said Red. "It is definitely our problem! We can't just let a criminal genius like him loose in another world and then leave him there!"

Green's eyes grew twice their normal size at that. She hadn't realized the magnitude of what they had done. Blue still wasn't phased, though. "Relax." He said calmly. "What are we? His babysitter? I'm sure that Ash and his friends can handle the guy just fine."

"He's _our _responsibility!" shot Red.

"Not if he is in _their_ world!" Blue growled.

"Wait a minute!" shouted Ash, stalling the fight a bit. Both dex holders turned to him. "…Who is Giovanni?" he asked.

The three teens' mouths dropped wide open, but Ash, Misty, and Gary simply eyed them with confused glances.

"The leader of Team Rocket?" Red began, "The mastermind behind the largest international crime syndicate in the world? The Virdian City gym leader? The guy you shocked into the air with your pikachu?"

"Oh… " Ash looked up at Pikachu, who was sitting on top of his head at the moment. "I didn't really get a good look at him." He said, shrugging.

"That's not the point." Said Blue. "You've never heard of-"

"Hold up!" Green interrupted. "Maybe Giovanni isn't called Giovanni in this world, just like Blue is called Gary and Red is called Ash."

"Oh. Good point." Said Red, as he smiled at his friend for being so smart. He turned back to Ash. "The leader of Team Rocket?" he asked.

Ash shrugged again. "Never met him." He said.

Red didn't have time to react to that shocking information, as Blue began chuckling almost immediately. "Okay. I changed my mind." Said Blue, grinning. "We definitely can't leave now, Red. Giovanni will utterly destroy this world if we don't do something!"

Ash got defensive at that. "Hey! What's that supposed to mean?" he asked.

"Well…" Blue began. "Red, Green, and I have _shut down_ the entire Team Rocket organization THREE TIMES in our world, and you're telling me you haven't even _met_ the Rocket boss before!"

Ash glared at Blue. He was angry now. "Hey! I've ruined a ton of Rocket plans!" he screamed.

Blue looked at him. "Rocket plans or those three idiots we faced in the forest?"

Ash didn't say anything, but his face turned three shades of red.

"Ha! I knew it!" said Blue, regaining his composure. "It's a wonder Team Rocket hasn't already conquered this world."

Red was appalled by his friend's behavior, and he put a hand on Blue's shoulder to make sure he got his attention. "I'm sure Ash is a fully capable trainer, Blue! No matter what dimension we're in, I'm sure they don't just give away the champion title to anybody."

Ash backed off a little bit, remembering what was making him upset earlier. "I… I'm not the champion…" he let out.

Red looked at him with huge eyes. "Wh-what?" he asked.

"Why? Are you?" Ash responded, expecting a definite 'no.'

"Of… of course." Red said, his tone getting lighter. "My special skill is in battling."

All the color drained from Ash's face. Here he was in a room with, more or less, himself from another universe, and his counterpart was a champion, a title Ash had been trying to achieve for what seemed like forever. Not only that, but since he never specified what region it was in, one could easily assume that Red was champion of Kanto. The first region Ash traveled through. What Ash had constantly failed to achieve, his counterpart had probably achieved on his first try. Ash felt so weak he could not think.

Red just stared at Ash in disbelief. Maybe Blue was right. Red's counterpart may have looked like him, but so far it certainly didn't seem that he acted like him. Blue just started laughing louder. It was out of character for him, but he found the irony too hilarious to ignore. Then, he realized something. If Ash wasn't the champion, then who… He turned his gaze toward Gary, and his laughter stopped. Red had beaten Blue to get the champion title back in his world, but if this world's Red was not champion, then there was only one other choice.

"So… You're the champion?" Blue asked, indicating toward Gary.

Gary looked at him with a frown. He was startled by the question, but he was currently a bit peeved at his counterpart for how he had just treated Ash. "No. I'm not." Gary deadpanned. "I'm a researcher."

"A RESEARCHER?!" Blue shouted. "You- you're supposed to be a trainer! You're special skill is in Pokemon training!" He could not believe that he would be a researcher in any universe.

Gary simply grunted and let out a smirk. "Maybe yours is, but not mine."

"No! No!" Blue was visibly angry now. A rare sight, as the boy usually had a more passive aggressive attitude. "Don't you realize you're just going to live your life in Gramps' shadow?"

That struck a nerve with Gary. It was one of his deeper, hidden fears of the field. He spent countless nights questioning his plans to become a researcher due to that one idea, but now that it was brought to the surface, he'd rather die than admit it. He snarled a little, before pushing his face right in front of Blue's. "Oh, yeah?" he said. "Sounds like a fear from someone who doesn't have enough guts to go into the field himself!"

Blue wasn't standing for that. The two went at it, yelling back and forth about the stupidity of one life style or the other. They shouted insults, psyche evaluations, and cheated a little bit by playing off of fears that they knew the other had due to their own emotions.

Red and Green were both about to go in to stop them, when Ash seemed to have finally reached a conclusion in his mind. "Hey!" he shouted at Blue, who was obviously too preoccupied to listen to him. "What if I'm not such a poor trainer, but the Team Rocket over here is just so pathetic that we've never needed to seriously mount an offensive against them?" It made sense to him. Team Rocket rarely had a huge, impossible plan, but the counterparts talked about their Team Rocket as if they had been a serious threat several times.

"Still doesn't explain why you aren't champion." Chimed in Red, half thinking.

Ash had had enough of that. "Look!" he said, "I have some really powerful Pokemon! I just empty my party out every time I go to a new region!" He was getting in Red's face now. "If I just kept my Pokemon from the original region, I could probably destroy ANY league I was at! I just see more value in making new friends and finding new Pokemon!"

Red took that as a challenge. "And you're saying I don't?" he growled.

"I don't know you!" shouted Ash "But I'm just saying, I probably have more Pokemon than you."

"Do not!" shouted Red.

"Do to!" returned Ash.

"How many ya got?"

"57!" Ash was counting all thirty of his tauros, but Red didn't need to know that.

Red smiled at that. "123, _and_ I didn't need to go to every region because I beat the entire Pokemon League on my first try at eleven years old!"

"Wow! Musta been some pathetic trainers!"

Green decided that she had stayed out of this too long. "Pathetic trainers?" she laughed, "That's coming from the guy who didn't even know the Viridian City Gym leader's name! How many regions are you going to go through before you realize that you just can't win?"

"HEY!" Misty was joining in now, and as she locked eyes with the brunette trainer, she threatened, "You have no idea what I had to go through earlier to get his confidence back up! You DO NOT get to bring it back down now!"

Green took Misty's death glare and glared right back. "You see…" she began, "You wouldn't have to bring his confidence back up if he was any good at battling!"

"Oh yeah?" said Misty, "I'll bet Ash could kick your Red into next week!"

Green smiled. If this Misty was anything like the one back in her world, she knew her weak spot. "Look, I understand your desire to support your little _boyfriend_, but I think we've pretty firmly established who the better trainer is."

"HE'S NOT MY BOYFRIEND!" yelled the redhead, steam practically coming from her head.

'_Gotcha._' Thought Green. "Please. If you're drooling over him anything like the Misty I know drools over Red, I honestly feel sorry for the fact that you have such a loser crush!"

Misty stopped fuming. She caught something there. "How do you know that the other Misty drools over Red?"

"Come on…." Began Green, feeling quite clever. "It's too obvious."

"No." Misty smiled. "No it's not. You have to be paying attention to notice…"

Green began to blush, but didn't say a word.

Misty let out a wicked grin. "You little hypocrite! You're doing the exact same thing!"

"I-I don't know what you're talking about!" Green was having trouble finding words, a rare case for her.

Misty started again. It felt good to be the accuser for a change. "I mean, sure, you're more flirty than I am, but you have a huge, secret crush on Red, don't you?"

"No! You're insane!" shouted Green.

Misty took another glance at Green's friends, both too busy arguing with their counterparts to notice. She turned back to Green. "Or perhaps your taste is a little more blue?" she asked.

"SHUT UP!" shouted Green.

"Oh! Why don't you three just live together?" laughed Misty, inadvertently triggering a soft spot of Green's, as she and exploded into a mass of accusations, insults, and screaming. Misty soon jumped in to join her.

Professor Oak and Tracey sweatdropped as they watched the three separate fights unfolding before them.

"Professor?" Tracey asked.

"It was bound to happen eventually." Oak shrugged. "If opposites attract, alikes repel. It isn't hard to believe that meeting an altered version of yourself would cause disappointment somewhere."

"But Professor," Tracey began, "What if we can't send the others back?"

"They'll have to learn to work together eventually." Oak explained.

"YOU DON'T DESERVE IT!" shouted Red so loud that everyone else fell silent.

Ash was about two feet away from his counterpart, glaring at him for all he was worth, as Pikachu was perched on his head in a defensive stance, cheeks sparking.

"You don't deserve your pokedex!" Red began again, quieter this time. "You don't even know what your special skill is, do you?"

"Well, I don't need someone to tell me!" Ash responded. "I'm a battler, and someday I'll be the world's greatest Pokemon Master!"

"Ha!" laughed Red, "A Master who can't even beat Team Rocket?" He pulled out his pokedex and shoved it in Ash's face. "I was chosen to complete this!" he said. "But the bigger thing that this symbolizes is my love for Pokemon and our world. Every time that either is in danger, I help in anyway I can!"

All eyes were on Ash now. "Really?" he began, and, inspired by the newspaper clippings Misty showed him earlier, he asked, "How many times have you saved the world?"

Red grinned. Not many got a chance to save the world once. He had saved the world tons of times, and, having done such, had _a lot _of bragging rights. "Four." He said.

Blue and Green also grinned as if to say, "Top that."

Ash let a smirk show on his face as he said, "Seventeen."

Now was Misty and Gary's turn to grin at their opponents, as the dex holders' mouths dropped wide open for the second time that day.

"…Well?" said Ash, still smirking.

"Fine." Said Red, as his eyes narrowed on his counterpart. "Then, I guess Blue was right. You don't need us to get Giovanni out of here." He turned toward Professor Oak. "Professor could you get us-"

"Hold on." Said Ash, grabbing onto Red's shoulder.

"Don't touch me!" Red warned, as he pulled Ash's hand off and turned back to Oak.

"You need to stay here!" shouted Ash.

Red stopped and turned around to face the young trainer. He was no longer in the mood for this. "I'd like to see you make me." He said.

"Fine." Said Ash. "You think your special skill is battling? Let's go."

"Is that a challenge?" Asked Red.

"You bet it is." Said Ash. "I challenge you to a Pokemon battle!"

* * *

**More Author's Notes: Well, it appears as though the gang's first interaction didn't go too well, huh? I know a lot of people were expecting them to meet and become friends almost immediately, but I feel this is a more realistic interaction. After all, if you met someone who was supposed to be another you, don't you think he/she might not quite live up to your expectations at first? Well, the these guys have got a lot of work to do if they are ever gonna be a team. It sets up a good excuse for character development and will ultimately help me reveal the main obstacle in this story. Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Review, fav, alert, tweet, facebook, like, subscribe, build an alter to, etc.**


	5. Round 5: VS AshRed

**Author's Note: Another unusually long chapter. Don't get spoiled now. It's time for the battle everyone has been waiting for! And that is literally almost all that happens this chapter. Sorry if that disappoints you. I have never written a pokemon battle until now. So, I hope you guys enjoy it. Tell me what you think.**

**Ship Warning: Pokeshipping and Luckyshipping  
**

******I do not own or have any rights to any part of the Pokemon franchise whatsoever. **

* * *

The agreement on a battle came surprisingly quick, especially considering that mere seconds ago, no one seemed to be able to agree on anything. However, Red seemed quite eager to shut Ash up, and Ash felt likewise. Although both sides would argue that they were incredibly different from one another, they could at least agree that a battle would settle the matter.

As Red walked to the front of the Oak estate, his mind kept running in circles. How could it be true that Ash did not know Giovanni? How could he not be champion? Was he irresponsible? Was he a poor trainer? The fact that Ash informed him he had saved the world seventeen times obviously evidenced that both of these ideas were foolish, but Red was now so steaming that he simply could not consider any other options. He was left to draw conclusions about himself based on his counterpart's history. '_Am I just lucky to be the trainer I am_?' he asked. '_Are my accomplishments simply due to the luck of being born in a dimension where I can succeed?_' It was not often that Red found himself asking such dauntingly difficult philosophical questions, but, as the trainer gripped a pokeball at his waist, he felt that somehow a match would answer every one of them.

Ash walked behind Red and asked similar questions. How strong _is_ Red? _Do _I stand a chance against him? Ash's last few days had not exactly been full of hope, and, although he found himself ready to battle, the question of Red struck him particularly. Here he had another version of himself, who, despite everything that Ash had said earlier, was honestly the coolest guy that Ash had ever met. He was a champion, a hero, and a person who genuinely loved Pokemon… He was a _completed _Ash. Red was everything that Ash had ever dreamed about becoming. The more Ash thought about it, the more confused he became. How could he work so hard for so long and never achieve his dream, while Red had completed the task in no time flat? Ash didn't know if he was incompetent or if Red was just some kind of god, but he was gonna find out in this match. He turned his head to look at the pikachu that sat on his shoulder. "You ready, buddy?" he asked him.

"Pikachu." The creature responded, cheeks sparking.

When the two reached a nice open spot in the grassy fields of the professor's front yard, they stood apart from each other by about ninety feet, and their friends began to move to the side of their companion. Gary and Misty walked up behind Ash, and Blue and Green walked toward Red. Professor Oak came out as well, and lied in a lawn chair about equidistant from both counterparts, and Tracey sat up next to him in his own chair.

"Professor?" Tracey asked, "Do you really think this is a good idea?"

"Mhm." he responded with a nod. "They were going to have to eventually work out their differences some way, and this is as good as any other. It's a middle ground that they both believe they can meet at."

Tracey looked at his mentor, unsure about this one. "Ash was pretty broken after his last match with Tobias." he began. "It was really hard for Misty and I to get him back to normal." He now turned his head toward the battlefield. "If he loses to Red badly enough, I don't think we'll ever be able to get him to battle again."

"You might be right." Oak said, with an awkward smile. "But take Red. We don't know much about his history, except for that it may loosely resemble Ash's in some areas. He told us that he is the best where he is from. A loss to Ash may do the exact same thing to him. In fact, it may even damage him more."

"Then why don't you stop this?" Tracey asked. "There is clearly too much on the line!"

Oak shook his head. "Tracey, Red's Giovanni is out there right now. If he is as dangerous as those three claim he is, we cannot risk him being here." He looked at Tracey straight in the eyes. "There is a reason that Giratina rarely allows dimensional travel. I don't know what it is, but our dimensions were not meant to mix this way. Giovanni's presence here becomes more and more dangerous every second. I'm not sure if we are too late to prevent something bad from happening, but I have to assume we are. When a basic law of nature is broken, we must immediately prepare for the worst case scenario." He looked out at Ash and Red, who were both conversing with their group of friends. "Truthfully, Ash is the most extraordinary boy I have ever met. He has seen and done things that you and I could never dream of. He may not be Champion, but he always saves the day and he always has what it takes to make it through any crisis. However, if something is truly wrong in the multiverse, be it Giovanni, Giratina, or something else, he may not be enough to stop it. We need these two to learn to work together. If this match helps settle their differences, I'm not complaining."

Tracey nodded and leaned back in his chair, deciding that he would opt to simply watch the battle play out as well.

Ash turned from the discussion he was having with Gary, and as his friends walked off, he shouted, "Okay! How many Pokemon do you want to use?"

Red broke from his discussion with Blue and shooed his friends off as well. Smirking, he said, "You have home field…kind of… You choose!"

Ash gripped his first pokeball in his right hand. "Normally I'm good with a full 6-on-6!" he started, "But I think I can take care of you with three!"

Red's eyes narrowed at that. "Fine!" he said. "Ready when you are!"

Gary leaned on a fence in the background, and Misty stood closer to Ash, clasping her hands together. This was going to be a big match. Similarly, Blue leaned against a tree on his end, and Green stood closer to Red with her hands on her hips and a look of determination on her face.

Red slowly got out his first pokeball, his hand delicately covering the front of it just so Ash could not see what he was about to use. His eyes landed on Ash's just as the boy nodded.

Both pokeballs flew into the air at the exact same time, and two red beams of light emitted onto the grassy field, quickly taking the shape of a small pikachu and a large snorlax.

Red frowned a bit. He had chosen Pika specifically because he was his highest leveled Pokemon. Ash seemed to have taken a different route and chose a snorlax due to the fact that it was a normal type. Normal type attacks tended to damage almost everything equally, making them a great type to start a battle with.

Ash would have been smiling at his well thought out plan if it wasn't for one thing. Snorlax was asleep.

Pika stared up at the sleeping beast with a curious expression on its face. Everybody sweatdropped, and Green began to bust out laughing.

"ASH!" shouted Misty. "Why the heck would you use Snorlax? It's always asleep!"

"I-I swear it was awake when I found it earlier!" he said, waving his hands above his head.

"It… must have fallen asleep in the pokeball…" Gary suggested.

"That isn't fair!" Ash shouted in peril.

Red was too shocked to say anything, and Blue eyed the snorlax from afar curiously.

Still rolling with laughter, Green walked up behind Red and patted him on the back. "Don't worry, Red! This one's in the bag!" she chocked out.

"Should… should I let him substitute this one?" Red asked Green. Red was never comfortable when his opponent was at an unfair disadvantage.

"What?" she gasped. "Of course not! Choosing a Pokemon that is _awake_ is part of being a good Pokemon trainer too!"

Red looked onto the field to find Ash shoving Snorlax and yelling at him to try and wake him up. "I… guess you're right." He said.

Misty sighed and put her hand over her face.

"What's up?" asked Gary.

"It's just… I stick up for Ash for the first time in… forever, and he had to go and pull a stupid move like this!"

Gary looked at Green, who had returned to taunting Ash from across the field.

"She's really getting under your skin, huh?" he asked.

Misty grunted. "The only reason she is teasing Ash right now is to get a point across to me." She said, eyes closed in an attempt to ignore Green's insults.

Gary looked at her and then back at Green. He raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "When we were inside fighting with them, you were arguing with Green, weren't you?"

"Yeah." Misty confirmed.

Gary paused for a minute. "… What were you two arguing _about_ exactly?" he smirked, having an idea.

"Uh…" Misty stalled for a second. "You know, I was so emotionally invested, I think I forgot entirely!" she said with a nervous laugh.

"Riiiiight. Suuuuure." Gary let out, still smirking.

Misty may have blushed a bit, but she turned her attention back to the field to find Ash yelling at Snorlax through a megaphone.

Pika simply stared up at all the commotion, and Red sat on his side of the field with his chin resting on his fist. "ASH!" he finally yelled, causing the young trainer to turn toward Red with a startled look. "Do you have a pokeflute?" he asked.

"No…" Ash sighed.

Red hit his palm against his face. "Fine." He said. "But we have to get on with the battle!" He stood up. "Alright, Pika use-"

"WAIT!" shouted Ash, waving his arms back and forth again. He couldn't bare the idea of Snorlax being attacked in his sleep. The Pokemon could be seriously hurt without Ash ever knowing. He pulled Snorlax's pokeball back out and returned it with the same red beam that had released it. He would have to beat Red with two Pokemon… if that was even possible…

Red understood Ash's move. He would have done the same thing… well… no… Red would have had a pokflute, but, regardless, he could respect what Ash did. He felt a bit of a confidence boost, knowing he now only had to take out two of Ash's Pokemon, but he also realized that Ash now knew he was using Pika. Ash had an opportunity to gain a type advantage.

Ash saw the opportunity too, but he ignored it. He knew with Snorlax already down he would need all the help he could get, but after continuously asking himself about Red's skill level verses his, he had to know if he could beat Red at his own game. He looked at his own pikachu, his oldest and most faithful partner, who stood right next to him. Pikachu's beady eyes looked back at him as if to say 'I'm ready.' Ash smiled. "I choose you, Pikachu!" he declared, pointing toward the field.

Pikachu bounded to the middle of the grass to find himself face to face with his own counterpart.

"Pika." Pika said, taking a defensive pose.

"Chu…" replied Ash's pikachu, doing the same.

"Interesting…" Blue said, as he eyed Ash's pikachu suspiciously. He had never seen a Pokemon move quite the same way Pikachu was moving. All the sudden, he was even more interested in the battle.

Red shouted first. "Pika! Use Quick Attack!" Just like that, the pikachu nearly disappeared from sight as it dashed toward Ash's pikachu with all of its speed.

"In the air, Pikachu!" countered Ash.

"Pika!" he responded, as he mimicked Pika's attack and directed it toward the sky.

Pikachu attacked an invisible foe in the air, and Pika ran right underneath Pikachu's jump without touching him.

"WOAH!" gasped Blue and Green from across the field.

Red's eyes widened. "He's fast." He said. No pikachu should have been able to dodge that attack at such a close range.

"Now come down with an Iron Tail!" commanded Ash, and Pikachu descended on his foe, hitting it with a powerful, glowing tail.

"PIiikACHU!" screamed Pika, as he was slammed toward the ground. At such a high speed, the attack must have hurt.

"Now Thunderbolt!" Ash shouted again.

Pikachu, already on top of Pika, released a huge surge of electric power on his foe.

"PIIIKAAAA!" howled the Pokemon in pain.

"Enough of this!" Screamed Red. "Pika! Get out from under there with an Iron Tail of your own!"

Pika's tail glowed, and it slammed it hard against Pikachu's back, causing him to catapult toward the other side of the field.

"Chu!" he shouted, landing on his hind legs.

Pika finally got to its feet on the other side and stood on all fours. His cheeks sparked. "Achuuuu…" he said, dangerously.

Ash knew Pikachu's last Thunderbolt probably didn't do much, even at close range, because both Pokemon were resistant to electric attacks. That in mind, he was expecting Red to use a physical attack next. Red knew this. It was the only explanation as to why Pika and Pikachu were simply staring each other down at the moment. Ash was waiting for him to attack.

'_Well,_' thought Red. '_I should teach him not to try to predict me._'

Although Red knew the next attack would not do much damage, it would certainly mess with Ash's head. Just what he needed. "Pika!" he commanded "Use Surf!"

"Surf?" Ash _and Misty_ both shouted with surprise, as Pika stood up on his hind legs and a huge wave of water was summoned behind him.

"Pii…ka…chu…" Pikachu mumbled, sweatdropping as he saw the huge wave form before him.

Gary and Professor Oak were awestruck by the sight, at a complete loss for words, and Tracey began to excitedly sketch the scene in his notepad. "Amazing!" he said, "Stupendous! I've never seen anything so incredible in my life!"

"PIKA!" shouted Pika, as the great wave fell forward and he rode to the top of it.

"Pikachu! Head for that tree!" barked Ash, pointing to a large tree about twenty feet away from the rodent.

"Pikachu!" Pikachu shouted, as it ran to safety with Quick Attack.

The wave followed close behind Pikachu, but the Pokemon proved to be too fast and jumped to a high branch, as the wave came down below him.

"Now! Iron Tail!" commanded Red, as Pika jumped from the top of the wave and Iron Tailed Pikachu right in the face, nearly knocking him off of the branch.

"Pikachu!" Ash shouted, but Pikachu just turned his head back toward the foe and tackled it against the bark of the trunk.

"What is that thing made out of?" asked Red in disbelief, noting how little the attack seemed to phase Pikachu.

Pikachu knocked Pika back toward the ground and stood on all fours on the tree branch, growling.

"Pikachu! See if you can build up momentum for an extra fast Volt Tackle by swinging around that branch!" Ash suggested.

"Pikachu!" Pikachu replied, as it grabbed the branch with its front paws and began to swing around it acrobatically. Electricity began to cover its body, and it sped up faster and faster and faster.

"I'm not gonna be able to match that…" Red noted. "Pika! Double Team and see what you can do to slow him down!"

"Pika!" responded the rodent, as it began to use its speed to create duplicates of itself.

Meanwhile, Pikachu was a mere blur forming around a tree branch with deadly electricity sparking from inside it. "Pika Pika Pika Pika Pika Pika Pika Pika..." he cried, as he let himself loose from the branch and ran toward the many Pika clones at neck break speed.

"PIKACHUUU!" shouted the clones, as they all let loose a large electric shock in hopes of slowing down the Super Volt Tackle.

Pikachu simply lifted his tail in the air and grounded the attacks, a trick he had learned quite a long time ago, and he kept on running, plowing through all the mirages until…

"CHAAAA!" Cried Pika as Pikachu's attack caused him to fly into the air in pain.

'_Oh well,' _Thought Red. '_Nothing to lose now._'

"Pika! Come down with your own Volt Tackle!" he shouted.

"PIKACHU!" let out the creature, as electricity surrounded it and it rushed toward the other pikachu with all its speed.

"Piii… Kaaa… CHUUU!" They both cried in unison as the lightning began to overtake both of their bodies. Bolts of heavy electricity shot everywhere, and both trainers backed up toward their side. The blinding light, dust, dirt, and grass scattered through Oak's lawn, and, as the battlefield cleared, one pikachu stood and another lay on its belly.

Ash and Red both looked at each other, each in a bit of shock.

"P-Pikachu?" Ash asked, attempting to tell which was his.

The standing pikachu turned toward Ash and made a small "v" sign with its fingers for victory. "PikaPi." It said, smiling.

"ALRIGHT!" shouted Ash with glee. He ran over and grabbed Pikachu, lifting him up and twirling him around. "You did amazing buddy!" Ash said in an ecstatic voice, before letting out a laugh.

Red walked over to his pikachu, and picked him up off of the floor. Smiling, he said, "You did great Pika."

"Pika…Chu?" he asked.

Red chuckled. "Yeah. Really great." He smiled, returning his friend to his pokeball.

Then, he looked at Ash and Pikachu. Admittedly, Ash did a great job in that battle. His pikachu seemed a little tired, but that is what worried Red. He seemed _a little_ tired. How was that thing able to go so many rounds with hardly a bead of sweat? He would choose his next Pokemon appropriately.

"You ready?" Red asked, inadvertently interrupting Ash and Pikachu's victory dance.

Ash snapped back to reality and looked at his opponent. "Yeah. We're ready." He said.

"Good." Replied Red. "Because this one is gonna be a doozy!" he tossed his next pokeball onto the field. "I choose you, Saur!"

Pikachu stood in defense on all fours as a large venasaur emerged from the ball and crashed to the floor.

'_Another type resistant to electricity._' Contemplated Ash. '_Red certainly plays his cards well._'

"Let's waste no time, Saur! Frenzy Plant!" shouted Red.

Ash knew that move. "Pikachu run!"

Vines began to emerge from the ground and wrapped throughout the entire field.

"MY GARDEN!" Cried Professor Oak, as the vines blew through his petunias.

Pikachu began running away from the venasaur to avoid the attack.

"No! No!" cried Ash. "Towards Saur!"

"Pika?" his friend asked.

"Stop his attack by attacking him!"

"ChuChu!" Pikachu understood, and changed course running straight toward the vines.

"Come on, Saur…" Red pled.

Pikachu dodged each vine, ripping through some, running on top of others, he slid down several, and jumped over a few. He was too fast. Frenzy Plant just couldn't grab him.

He grew closer and closer to Saur, and he gave one final jump toward the grass type as his tail began to glow.

"PIIII-KAAA…" he began.

"SAUR!" Saur cried in victory, as a vine finally managed to grab Pikachu by the foot, stopping him dead in his tracks.

"No!" Cried Ash

"Yes!" Shouted Red.

The vine pulled Pikachu to the ground, where he was surrounded by many other vines that slammed him repeatedly against the floor.

"PIKACHU!" Ash screamed for his friend.

"PIKAAAAAA!" He shrieked back, beneath the deadly plants.

The slamming went on for several minutes, Pikachu unable to escape, and Saur eventually just ran out of energy for the powerful attack, and the many vines sank back into the ground to reveal a panting and injured pikachu, lying on its stomach.

"Good work, Saur." Red complimented, as Ash eyed his hurt friend.

"Pikachu…" Ash sighed.

"PikaPi." It responded.

"Huh?" Ash looked at Pikachu, as the Pokemon stood to its feet and faced Saur with a fierce scowl.

"What?" Red asked, head turning in disbelief.

"No way…" said Green from behind.

Misty smirked. "That's Pikachu for ya. That Pokemon has guts."

"Pikachu!" shouted the electric type.

"Are you sure you can keep going?" asked Ash.

"Pika." Assured the Pokemon.

"Well then…" Ash began, looking at Saur with a mischievous grin, "Iron Tail! Now!"

"PIKAAAACHU!" cried the Pokemon, as he ran toward Saur and jumped into the air to attack him again.

Red was startled Pikachu was still up, but he was quick on his feet. "Saur catch him with a Vine Whip!"

"Venasaur!" Shouted the grass type, as two large vines emerged from its flower and shot out toward Pikachu.

Pikachu's eyes narrowed at the attack. There was no way Saur was going to be fast enough to stop him this time. "PIKACHU!" he cried, as his tail came down on Saur's head with a thud.

"Saaaaaurr!" Howled Red's Pokemon, as the impact impeded his vine speed.

Pikachu was launched into the air a bit with the Iron Tail, and that gave Ash an idea.

"Pikachu! Don't leave! When you come back down, Iron Tail him again!"

Red smiled. Pikachu was normally too fast for Saur to really compete with, but that was just the opening he needed. "Keep going for the Vine Whip grab, Saur!"

Pikachu descended on his opponent and struck his head _again_ with another powerful blow.

"Vena…" The Pokemon grunted, focused on grabbing Pikachu.

The last Iron Tail pushed Pikachu into the air a little bit again, but he did not come back down. Saur's vines had wrapped around his waist.

"Pika!" he shouted in shock.

"Oh boy…" Ash let out.

"Now, Saur, throw Pikachu into that tree!" Red said, pointing to the tree Pikachu had climbed earlier. Yes, the tactic was a bit ruthless, but Pikachu just _would not go down_! Something had to be done.

"VENASAUR!" Shouted Saur, as he hurtled Pikachu toward the large plant.

Pikachu helplessly twirled through the air towards the large tree, crying out in distress.

"Ash! Do something!" Commanded Misty, but the trainer was too shocked by the sudden change of events to react.

"ASH!" she yelled again.

"Oh, right!" He snapped out of it. If Pikachu spun the toss into a Volt Tackle, he would break right through the tree! "PIKACHU! Try to spin your toss into a Volt Tackle!"

"Pika!" Pikachu shouted, as it began to charge energy, but it was too late. The small Pokemon slammed through the tree, landing inside of the trunk with a thud.

There was silence for a moment. Everyone waited to see Pikachu emerge from the tree. After a few seconds, Red sighed. "_That_ took long enough." He said.

The inside of the trunk began to glow.

Blue smiled. He was _very _impressed.

Light overtook the entire tree. "PIII-KAAA-CHUUU!" Cried Ash's Pokemon, as he shattered through the side of the tree, covered in electricity. His Volt Tackle had come just a little late. He slammed into Saur with all of his might, but both Ash and Red knew he could not take much more.

"SAUR!" Screamed the grass type, as he flew backwards and landed on his flowery back. He could not get up from this position.

Pikachu turned his Volt Tackle around and ran towards Saur for another hit.

"Saur!" Shouted Red, "Hit him with PoisonPowder, and use Vine Whip to push yourself back to your feet!"

"Venasaur!" responded his Pokemon, as he let out a large shot of many small, poisonous spores.

"Pikachu! Jump over it!" Tried Ash, but Pikachu was too tired out to jump over it entirely, and as he came to the powder, he leapt into it.

"No, Pikachu!" Ash cried. The Pokemon's electricity disappeared from it in mid-jump. The poison had begun to take effect.

Pikachu soared, helpless again, through the air, and he hit Saur head first, as the larger Pokemon was trying to lift himself up with a Vine Whip.

Both Pokemon howled in pain, as they fell to the floor again. It was a draw.

Red returned his Pokemon, and Ash picked up Pikachu, praising him for the amazing job he did of taking out TWO Pokemon, NEITHER of which was he strong against. The counterparts were tied.

Red grabbed his last pokeball. "Time to bring out the big guns…" he muttered.

Gary looked at Ash, as he grabbed his. "Sure you can handle this, Ash?"

Ash had a cocky smile on his face, as he let out, "I know I can."

Both opponents tossed their final pokeball to the field.

"Charizard, I choose you!" shouted Ash.

"Let's do this, Aero!" cried Red.

Ash and all of his friends let out a startled gasped when they saw Red's aerodactyl appear. Were aerodactyl not extinct in Red's world?

Red, Blue, and Green, of course _saw _Ash's charizard, but their shock was considerably less than that of the group that just saw a very rare, normally fossilized Pokemon.

Charizard let out a huff of smoke upon seeing the prehistoric beast. He had once fought an aerodactyl, and he was eager to finish the fight. He turned his head toward Ash, who simply nodded, and Charizard took to the sky with a roar. He flew into the extinct Pokemon, tackling it through the air, and Aero in turn, sliced at his opponent with a Dragon Claw.

Charizard screamed and let out a large Flamethrower at the beast, who launched his own Hyper Beam to counteract it. The beams collided in the air, neither overtaking the other, and the dragons flew in circles at each other in the sky.

Ash and Red barked numerous orders from below, nothing like the last two battles. They were shouting which way to fly, how to face the opponent, when to duck, when to hit, when to be close, when to be far.

The two flying Pokemon rammed into each other in the air again and again. They let out bursts of flames and Hyper Beams. They were both playing with their own strategy.

Charizard used his large flames to keep Aero at a distance, but occationally Red would order he go into the fire anyway to land a quick physical blow. After all, Aero was resistant to fire attacks. Ash had not had a lot of luck in type combinations today.

However, aerodactyl had gone extinct for a reason, and the beast simply could not keep up with Charizard, who was able to fly in close to the Pokemon and land his own physical blows more than a few times.

Aero excelled at a distance. His Hyper Beam proved to be very useful at breaching Charizard's normally superior defenses. Not to mention his Supersonic attack, which gave Ash a run for his money and often allowed him to get in closer for a Dragon Claw or Take Down.

Nevertheless, after about fifteen minutes of this, Aero was starting to get a little dizzy. Charizard grabbed the Pokemon and scraped him across the ground as he continued to fly ridiculously fast. Aero wouldn't have any of that. He let loose a large Hyper Beam in Charizard's face, and spread his wings to loosen the grip. Charizard let go, but Aero used Take Down to hurdle the fire type into Professor Oak's fence.

Normally the professor would say something, but everyone was too engrossed in the battle.

Charizard flew back into Aero as fast as he could and rammed the rock type through the sky.

Red could tell Charizard still had a lot of fight left in him, and as the two Pokemon wrestled through the air, Red muttered "Come on. Come on, Charizard. Go down."

Ash heard him from across the field, and let out a smirk as he said, "Oh? You want Charizard to go down?"

Red shot Ash a glare.

"Charizard! Seismic Toss!" He commanded.

Red looked up at the two. "Aero! Get out of there!"

Aero was grappling against Charizard at the time, but as soon as Red ordered him to leave, he spread his wings and flew away as fast as he could. Charizard was faster.

Charizard flew up behind Aero and hugged his opponent close to his chest as he manipulated the flight, going high into the air.

"Aero! Get out of there with a Dragon Claw!" shouted Red

Charizard flew high into the sky with Aero tucked near his body, as the extinct Pokemon clawed viciously at the fire type. It hurt Charizard. A lot. But he would not let go. He was finishing this. He spun in the air in an ellipse pattern, going faster and faster, the ellipse as perfectly shaped as the earth's itself.

"Aero!" Cried Red, praying for his Pokemon's safety.

Aero let loose one last Hyper Beam on his opponent, as Chrizard tossed his pray to the ground with a mighty roar.

Dust flew everywhere. No one was quite sure what had happened. Had the Hyper Beam finished Charizard off? Was the Seismic Toss enough to faint Aero?

As the dust settled, a mighty roar was heard. Charizard stood above the fallen Aero, shooting flames into the air.

"YESYESYES!" Shouted Ash, as he jumped for joy and ran over to pat his strong charizard.

Red tilted his hat over his head in defeat, and he walked to Aero, returning his friend to his pokeball. "You did amazing." He said to him.

Professor Oak and Tracey clapped for the great battle, and Green ran up behind Red.

"Well…" she said. "I guess he isn't so bad after all."

She got no response from Red. Assuming he was upset, she gave him a small hug, and asked, "You gonna be okay?"

Red was staring at Ash, who was praising his charizard, pikachu, and even snorlax with a huge smile on his face. He could tell that Ash was not just happy that the Pokemon won. He was happy that the Pokemon were his. Red let a small smile appear on his face "I've never met anyone like him…" he said. "He really cares about Pokemon."

Green chuckled a little. "Maybe you two aren't so different…" she let out.

Ash was still praising his Pokemon on the great job they had done when Misty and Gary came over to congratulate him.

"Ash!" Shouted Misty, as she ran at him in a hug. "You did amazing!"

Ash blushed a little bit. "Gee… Thanks, Misty."

"It really was great." Admitted Gary, giving Ash a thumbs up. "Back in a fighting spirit yet?"

"Definitely!" Ash said with a smile. "But it was all of their hard work!" he added, pointing at his trusty Pokemon.

"Ash!" came a voice.

Ash turned to find Red standing behind him. "You did a great job." He said, extending his hand to the young trainer. Neither was sure if they quite liked each other yet, but they could still shake at least. Ash obliged.

"But what really startled me was your pikachu." Red said, nodding to Ash's companion. "If you don't mind my asking, what level is it on?"

Ash looked at him with a confused glance. "Level?" he asked.

Red sighed. Did Ash _really_ not know what a level was? Before he could ask, Blue walked up from behind. "That's what I thought." He said.

Everybody looked at him.

"You don't have levels in this dimension, do you?"

Everyone had gathered near each other at this point. "Um… I guess not…" Ash said, shrugging. "I mean, in some trainer schools they use something called 'levels' as a teaching method to explain to kids how Pokemon training works… but…"

"Of course!" Blue interrupted. "I have studied Pokemon with my grandpa for years, and I can normally tell how experienced they are by the way they act and move." He glanced at Pikachu. "But when he took the field, he moved in ways I've never seen before. It was like he was not following the basic nature of Pokemon."

"Of course not." Misty cut in. "That's the point of _training_ Pokemon. You give them a particular battle style so that they can face certain opponents head on. It's not like there is some magic point at which a Pokemon just gets stronger. It is taught to deal with certain Pokemon certain ways. When an unusual Pokemon with different techniques appears, it must be taught to face _that_ Pokemon."

"That... that's not how it works, though..." Tried Red.

"This isn't some kind of video game." Added Professor Oak. "A Pokemon's skill is based on its genetics, diet, training, exercise, personality, and experience with other Pokemon."

Blue nodded. In their world there were only levels. After a Pokemon battled enough, it got stronger. Plain and simple. He now had a lot more respect for his counterpart's decision to study Pokemon. In this world, they were very complicated, and that complicated nature obviously had some sort of impact on their abilities.

Green added in now. "That is why Ash's pikachu was able to knock out two of Red's Pokemon!" Everyone looked at her. "Don't you get it?" she said "Even if you are a good trainer, Ash, the idea that you could take out two of Red's best Pokemon with one is baffling! There is no level cap here! 100 isn't as high as a Pokemon can go! Comparatively, our Pokemon are weak in this world!"

Red forgot about the battle immediately, and his eyes widened. "We need to go." He said.

Green looked confused. "Go where?" she asked.

"We need to find Giovanni _now_!" he said firmly. "Imagine if he found a way back to our dimension! With Pokemon from this world, he would be unstoppable!"

Blue and Green both gasped as they realized the situation.

"How much time do we have?" Asked Ash.

"There is no way of knowing." Responded Red. "We just have to hope he hasn't found out there are no level caps here yet!"

* * *

In a dark room underground in a nearby city, a sharp dressed man with well-combed brown hair in an orange suit with a red tie sat at his desk, stroking a persian.

An intercom crackled to life. "Giovanni..uh… sir. There is someone here to see you." Said the voice on the other end.

"Oh. Who is it now?" Asked the man, irritated.

"You're…uh… going to want to see this for yourself, sir." Replied the voice.

"Oh, very well, let them in." said Giovanni, still annoyed.

He eyed the door suspiciously, as Jessie, James, and Meowth walked in. Behind them came a man who looked exactly like him. He was too stunned to speak.

The doppleganger smiled at Giovanni, and he asked, "Mr. Giovanni, I presume?"

* * *

**More Author's Notes: Hold on, manga fans! Please try not to lament on this loss. Ash had an unfair advantage. Not even the most insane Ash fan or Red hater would believe that, under normal circumstances, Ash could defeat Red and only really lose one pokemon. The point of the battle was more to set up two plot points:  
**

**1. Pokemon from Red's universe are generally weaker than those from Ash's universe (this makes the journey a little more difficult for the dex holders than normal, and it sets up Giovanni's main scheme).  
2. Red and Ash cannot engage in an fair battle, making it impossible to tell who is really the better trainer (this causes discontent from both of them because neither particularly likes the other, and they cannot solve the power struggle they are having with a battle).**

**It's simple plot set up. I'm not hating on Red. He's my favorite dex holder. But, yeah, the anime's pokemon and the manga's pokemon are on two completely different levels (No pun intended). You can tell by simply comparing them. The attacks in the anime generally seem more severe and cause more damage. Pokemon from the anime also seem to be able to take many more hits. Levels are a big deal in the manga and games, but they are barely ever mentioned in the anime. You would figure such a big point of the series in two medias would be a big point in the anime too, but apparently not. Now, I would like to note that my explanation for levels in the anime was not just completely made up. I based it on evidence. It seems as though when a pokemon in the anime fights another pokemon it is not used to, its abilities are severely hindered. Notice how Ash's pikachu always seems to somehow manage to pwn really strong pokemon from one region and then falters with weak pokemon as soon as he travels to another region (cough, Snivy, cough). I am aware that in reality it is simply a bad plot device used by the writers, but we, as fans, _can_ make some sense out of it. For instance, if you fought a bunch of guys who knew Kung-Fu for a year, you would eventually get good at fighting them, but if I then brought you to a new region where everyone knew Brazilian Kickboxing, you would struggle to learn how to fight correctly again. Perhaps it works similarly in the anime. Writer's Dodge! Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the fun, and let me know how you feel about this round. The plot is shaping up quite nicely. Review please!**


	6. Round 6: On the Road to Viridian City

**Author's Note: Short round today. Sorry, guys, but I've got some stuff coming up. I'm hoping to update again sooner than usual, though. So, keep checking back next week. This shorter round is mostly to just keep everyone patient, since I have gotten you used to the Saturday updates. It's nothing really big, but a decent plot point is revealed. Also, I'm so glad I got a lot of positive reviews for the last chapter. As I stated before, it was my first attempt at writing a Pokemon battle, but apparently, people loved it. Red's loss had me particularly concerned. I expected to get a lot of hate mail from Red fans calling me out on that one, but most people were surprisingly okay with my introduction to the new complication. People are more mature than I give them credit for. I only got a moderate amount of hate mail. :D Anyway, enjoy this mini-round, and expect Round 7 sooner than usual.**

**Ship Warning: None  
**

**I do not own or have any rights to any part of the Pokemon franchise whatsoever. **

* * *

The shock wore off in an instant, and Giovanni was not the least bit happy with what he saw. He stood to his feet and slammed both hands against his desk as his persian hopped to the floor.

"Jessie! James!" he snarled. "What is the meaning of this?"

The two agents and Meowth just shrugged in unison as nervous glances shot off of their faces. The other Giovanni had explained his origin to them on their way to the base, and, in time, the group had managed to diagnose the situation. But that did not make the circumstances any easier to put into plain words.

"Relax, Giovanni. Don't be so hard on them." Said the doppelganger in a soothing tone, as he casually walked up to the chair that sat before Giovanni's desk. "After all, they did save me from those pesky children."

The crime boss simply watched from where he stood as his look alike sat down in the visitor chair and propped his legs up on the front of his desk. "I'm here to talk business with you." Said the man with a devilish grin.

Giovanni's eyes grew in disbelief. "Who do you think you are?" he shouted. "What moron would impersonate me, come on Team Rocket turf, take command of my agents, and then have the gall to just stroll up to my desk, demanding to discuss 'business?'" He stood straight up and regained his demeanor with a smile. "You must have a death wish."

The clone did not budge, nor did he show any sign of fear. He simply took his feet off of their prop and sat up to address the situation. "You know I was really hoping I wouldn't have to do this." He complained, remembering the long explanation he had to go through in order to get the situation across to Jessie, James, and Meowth. "This story is going to get _so_ monotonous…"

Giovanni was getting somewhere. "What story?" he asked.

The counterpart looked up at him with a bored expression. "Oh, can't you just accept that I want to help you achieve world domination?" he offered.

"Nice try." He said, as he inconspicuously slid his right hand toward a small red button hidden underneath his desk. "You'd better come up with a reason in the next five seconds that I shouldn't have Security come in here and teach you a lesson."

The other Giovanni finally let out a long, exasperated sigh, before saying "Your silent alarm button is on the far right-hand side of your desk from where you are facing. It sits directly under the small crevice that forms when the upper drawer reaches the back of the desk. That's where you _always_ put it."

That caught Giovanni's attention. No, it did more than that. It scared him a bit. How could he know that? How could _anyone _know that? Sure, some people had seen one of his hidden silent alarm buttons. Some (although remarkably few) had even seen two of them, but the fact that he always had them installed in the same place remained a concept that only he really knew about. It was one of those things that you are aware you do but you don't ever really think about. He slid his hand away from the button and narrowed his eyes at the annoyingly over confident mirror of himself that sat before him in the visitor chair. "Who are you?" he asked in a grave voice.

The other Giovanni again sighed with a hint of annoyance, as he finally stood to his feet, coming face to face with his counterpart. "Are you familiar with Giratina?" he asked.

"Not really." He said. "I mean, it's a famous legend, but my organization has yet to really set up shop in Sinnoh, so my knowledge of their folklore is limited."

"Alright, then, I'll make this fast." The counterpart started. "Giratina is a Pokemon rumored to travel between different dimensional planes of existence. Turns out it _wasn't_ just a famous legend. I ran into it. It sent me to another dimension. Now, I'm talking to another dimensional version of myself, and I realize that by doubling my efforts with his, we can finally succeed in our plans to take over the world."

It was a bit much for Giovanni to take in all at once, and as he turned to the trio of Jessie, James, and Meowth, he shouted "And you nitwits _believed_ all of that?"

The three were caught off guard, and they responded by mumbling things like "Well, when you put it that way…" and "It seemed to make sense at the time…"

Meanwhile, the other Giovanni noticed a large metal door in the right corner of Giovanni's room. As he eyed the exit, he realized that instead of having a lock on it, as most doors did, it had a small metal box to the left of it with an indention in the shape of a hand print. "Bingo." He mumbled, as he started to make his way toward the door.

"Hey!" Cried Giovanni, "Where do you think you're going?"

"Tell me," his counterpart grinned, as he approached the door. "What would it take for you to believe me?"

"A miracle." The crime boss responded with a laugh.

The counterpart put his hand in the indention on the box, and the box lit up in an elegant blue light. The machine scanned his hand, and then an electronic voice let out, "Hand print confirmed. Welcome, Giovanni." As the doors opened up.

Giovanni stood still with his mouth opened for a few minutes. Jessie, James, and Meowth simply stood on the other side of the room, happy that their boss was no longer yelling at them.

"You can call me an angel." The counterpart remarked with a grin.

Giovanni finally snapped out of it. "How does your handprint-"

"Because I'm you!" he interrupted. "I came from another dimension. I look like you because I am you. I came to your base because it is my base. I commanded some of your agents because they are my agents. And I would like to discuss your business because it is my business. I don't have any troops with me because I was sent here by accident, and I don't wear an orange suit like you because I never thought of it. It does look snazzy, though. Get it now?"

Giovanni nodded silently. After all, when someone perfectly copies your hand print, there is only so much you can do.

"Good." Said the other. "Now, what condition is your team in? Do you have any current plans in motion, and-" he paused in his thought to look through the large metal door that he had just opened. "Where does this door go?"

Giovanni grinned. "Ah, yes, that is an elevator especially designed for my office. It runs throughout the whole base, accepting only my hand print." He then left his desk and walked over to his new ally. "Would you like a grand tour?" he asked, motioning to the room.

His counterpart smiled. "I'd like that." He said. "I'd like that a lot."

Then the two Giovannis walked into the elevator, leaving the office behind them.

"Wait!" injected James, realizing that he and his partners were being left behind, "What are we supposed to do?"

The native Giovanni grunted. "You idiots can go-"

"Why don't you come with us?" interrupted his counterpart.

"What?" Giovanni cried.

The other Giovanni simply held the door open for the three hapless Rocket members, and with a sly grin he said, "Come on, now. I told you they saved me, remember?"

Jessie, James, and Meowth didn't really question it much. They just smiled and walked into the elevator with their bosses. It was so nice to have him be nice to them for a change.

* * *

Meanwhile, Red, Blue, and Green were walking down a dirt road with woods off to both sides. The trio had healed all of their Pokemon before leaving Professor Oak's lab, and now they had set off in search of Giovanni.

For once, Red actually looked as serious about the situation as Blue did. Both boys were walking in fast, firm steps toward their destination. They both had determined looks on their faces, and neither spoke.

"Sooo…" chirped Green from behind the two boys. "What exactly makes you think he'll be at the Viridian City gym?"

"He owns it." Blue deadpanned.

Red turned his head around to face Green. "We already met this universe's equivalent of Blue, and he certainly didn't give us any indication that _he_ owned the gym."

Blue nodded. "He's a researcher." He said. He wasn't upset about it anymore. After realizing the complexity of this dimension's Pokemon, he actually found it fitting that he would be a researcher. However, at the moment, Blue was too dead set on finding Giovanni to give it much thought.

"Right…" Green commented again. "So the idea is that if Blue never gained control of the gym, then Giovanni would still be the leader there."

"Exactly." Said Red. "And _our_ Giovanni is sure to try to meet up with the Rocket boss if those three Rocket agents we saw earlier know where he is."

"Right!" Green said a little louder this time. "Because Ash said he had never _met_ the Rocket boss, meaning he certainly never _shut down_ the Rockets, which is what ultimately led to Giovanni losing his position as gym leader!"

"Bingo." Let out Blue with a sigh.

Green grimaced a little. "But if that's true… say our Giovanni _has_ met this world's Giovanni already. How are we going to fight them? Our Pokemon don't pack as much of a punch in this dimension."

Red shrugged a little. "We'll improvise." He said. "We've been in worse situations before."

"Right now all that matters is finding out if he is actually at that gym." Finished Blue.

"If you're looking for the gym, you're going the wrong way." Came a voice.

The trio turned around to find Ash, Misty, and Gary running up the trail behind them.

"Ugh." Said Green, as she slapped her palm against her head.

Red looked at the three, slightly shocked. "I thought I told you to stay in Pallet."

"Your first mistake was thinking that Ash would listen." Misty explained.

"I couldn't do it." Chirped Ash. "I knew you guys would need our help!"

"Pika!" cheered the pikachu that sat on his shoulder.

"Well, we don't." Red deadpanned as he and his friends turned around and continued walking.

Ash walked up behind him. "Come on! I know we've had our differences, Red, but I don't want this criminal in my world any more than you do."

"I'm not ignoring you because I have a problem with you, Ash. You just can't come. Let's leave it at that."

Ash stopped walking and turned to his friends. "You know, guys, I think he doesn't like that I beat him in a battle."

That stopped Red. He turned toward Ash, both of his companions noting that this was about to get bad.

"I told you, I'm not ignoring you because I have problem with you! The situation is just... different. Okay?" Red explained, "Besides... you had an unfair level advantage that neither of us knew about. I would destroy you in a real battle!"

Ash looked him over for a second. "Nope. You're still angry about it." He concluded with a grin.

Red opened his mouth to blurt something out again, when Blue and Gary stopped him by shouting "GUYS!" in unison.

Blue looked at his counterpart from across their small distance.

"May I?" Asked Gary.

"Please." Responded Blue.

Gary stepped in between Ash and Red, turning to face Red, specifically, "Okay!" he said. "Red! You're going to end up working with Ash. Period. You should know better than anyone else here that no matter what you say to him, he's going to follow you to stop Giovanni. We understand that technically the crime boss is from your dimension and all, thus your responsibility, but none of us really want him in our dimension either. You three definitely know him better than us. You can probably adequately guess where he is going, what he is doing, how he'll do it, etc. However, Ash, Misty, and I know the area better. This is our dimension, and it's a little bit different from yours. We also know the people, the Pokemon, and the customs better than any of you. Speaking of Pokemon, we are the only three who have Pokemon that can actually pose a reasonable threat to any higher powers we might meet. Lastly, stop being a jerk to Ash. Unfortunately, neither of you are capable of having an 'on level' battle, so there is no way to tell which of you is the batter trainer."

Gary then turned to Ash. "Ash, you're being an arrogant jerk. Yes, you beat Red, but we both now know that it was not a fair fight. Stop rubbing it in his face. It doesn't mean anything. I'm sure he would be a very tough opponent if you had a fair battle."

Gary paused for a moment. Ash and Red both stood on either side of him, neither with a pleasant expression on their face. "Now, are we good?" he asked with a scowl.

"Fine." Ash said, although he wasn't happy about it. He walked closer to Red and extended his hand toward the counterpart. "Can I please help you catch Giovanni?" he asked. "I'm sure I can help."

Red looked at his hand for only a second before saying, "No."

Blue and Gary both let out a sigh.

"Why not?" Cried Ash, as he threw his hands in the air. "How can you still possibly be mad at me?"

Red looked him in the eyes before saying, "Ash! Again! I'm not ignoring you because I have a problem with you! You just can't come, and neither can your friends."

"Why?" Ash demanded. "I've fought tons of monsters in the past! I have defeated _very_ formidable enemies before! I… I… I've _died_ before! I can handle whatever this guy is going to throw at me!"

Red snapped. "No you can't!" he shouted.

Ash looked at Red with a curious glance before he continued. "I don't want you coming with me because you have never faced Giovanni before! Ash, I don't know how you have done it, but throughout these adventures that you claim to have gone on, you have managed to maintain a child-like innocence. You are a walking picture of me at the beginning of my journey. Cocky, cheery, overly optimistic, and blissfully ignorant."

Ash took a little bit of offense to that, but he let Red keep on going.

"Sure, you seemed a little bit down when I first met you. Misty said that you had lost a big battle or something. But your natural attitude was bound to come back. In our battle I saw it more than ever. You pick up your Pokemon and twirl them around. You laugh like a kid. You talk like a kid. Ash, as I have continued on my journey and seen the world in jeopardy so many times, I've gotten darker. I'm more serious. I'm responsible. I don't have the same childish innocence you do. Giovanni is not like anyone you have faced before. He is a deadly, unpredictable psychopath with a genius mind and a deceptive tongue. This is not a game, and I am not about to have innocent blood on my hands!"

That shocked Ash. It shocked everyone. No one said anything for an eternity.

"I'm sorry." Red nearly whispered. "But no. You can't come."

He then began to walk away. His friends followed him down the same dirt path. Red didn't get Ash. He didn't like him much, but he certainly didn't want him dead. He wouldn't be able to stand himself if Giovanni got his hands on one so innocent.

Misty walked closer to Ash. "Ash, you okay?" she asked him.

"Pikachu..." Pikachu asked as well.

The boy looked ahead at Red walking into the distance. He was different. Ash didn't care for his counterpart's attitude, but he wanted so much to be like Red. Red was a champion, a hero, and a friend. He was trying to protect Ash at his own expense. Red was willing to take anything from no concept of the dimension to no powerful Pokemon in order to protect Ash. It was bold… but ultimately useless.

"I know we can help them." He said with a slight smile. "He's going to need us."

Gary grinned too. "We aren't going home are we?"

"If there is one thing Ash learned from Team Rocket, it's how to stalk people." Misty said with a chuckle.

* * *

It wasn't long before Red and his friends reached the gym. It was a large, red building with beautiful decor. White pillars stood outside the gym and two stairways on either side of a large fountain lead up to the main entrance.

Red, Blue, and Green eyed it from the bottom of the stairs.

"Wow…" let out Green.

"It definitely doesn't look like the gym back in our world." Blue commented.

"Alright." Red nodded. "It may look different, but as long as Giovanni is in there, we've come to the right place."

"What if Giovanni isn't in there?" Blue asked. "I mean, honestly, how often is he at his gym, anyway?"

"Either way, hopefully this will be one of the first places _our_ Giovanni visits." Red reminded him.

The trio walked up the stairs and between the pillars, each teen gripping their pokeballs, ready to fight. Should this dimension's Giovanni be present, the battle was going to be rough.

Red walked to the front of the group and took the initiative by slowly opening the front door. The dex holders peeked from the entrance and found the lights were on. Someone was definitely here.

As the three crept into the silent chasm, their eyes gazed around the room to find an old woman with blonde hair and a cane, clothed in a purple dress with a white apron standing across the room.

"Greetings." Said the elderly voice.

"IT'S AGATHA OF THE ELITE FOUR!" Shouted Green.

"GET HER!" Responded Red, as he ran toward the woman and tackled her to the floor.

"Agh!" She screamed as Red fell on top of her and wrapped her arms around her back in a tight hold. "WHAT ON EARTH ARE YOU CHILDREN DOING? GET OFF OF ME!" she cried.

Meanwhile, Blue had released his charizard and Green had released her nidoqueen for good measure. The two Pokemon aimed toward Agatha, as Red lifted her head up to see the two, making sure she did not try to reach for a pokeball.

"Alright. Start talking!" he said. "What are you doing here, and where is Giovanni?"

"Ash, I have no idea what you are talking about!"

"Nice try." Said Red "But if you don't tell us what Giovanni is planning-"

"RED!" Came a voice from the gym door.

Red looked to see Ash, Misty, and Gary again.

"What the heck are you doing?" Asked Ash.

Green and Blue turned to see the trio as well.

"Ash!" Said Red with a sigh. "I thought we agreed you were going home!"

"I never said that!" defended Ash. "We just followed you through the trees and brush until you got here."

Misty jumped in now. "We honestly thought you guys were going to get into some kind of trouble and need our help."

"Especially after we started hearing yelling from outside the gym." Finished Gary.

"Well, we don't need help." said Green, bluntly. "We're doing fine."

Ash and his friends looked at the situation one more time. It was actually pretty hilarious. Red was on the ground, wrestling an old lady, while Blue and Green threatened her with two enormous Pokemon.

"Riiiight…" Misty began. "I don't know what the word 'fine' means in _your_ dimension, but here, attacking the elderly doesn't quite fit the description."

"Okay." Said Red with a sigh. "This isn't just some old woman. You have _got_ to know who she is. The Elite Four is FAR too infamous for you to just not recognize her."

Agatha looked at Ash from underneath Red's grip. "Ash! Get this lunatic off of me!" she shouted.

Red's entire group looked at her when she said that. "You- you know her _personally_?" Blue asked.

"Kind of…" Ash admitted. "I mean, I know she doesn't like being tackled to the ground by teenagers..."

"She's a criminal!" Red cried in disbelief. "An internationally known terrorist!"

"No she's not." Ash said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "She's from the Elite Four. She's one of the most powerful trainers in the world. She's an essential part of the Pokemon League."

The dex holders all looked at her with a confused glance, and she just continued to scowl at them. "GET OFF OF ME!" She screamed.

"Just… Just let her go…" Ash said, sweatdropping.

Red did as he said, and Blue and Green returned their Pokemon.

Agatha stood to her feet and brushed off her dress before turning to Red slightly. "Well, I've never in all my years seen someone try-"

"Umm, Agatha..." Ash interrupted. "These three aren't from around here. I'm sorry, but I think they mistook you for someone else."

"That's no excuse!" she said. "No one should just tackle an old woman to the ground like that! It's disrespectful!"

Gary looked at the dex holders from the other side of the room. "Is that enough proof you need our help?" he asked.

"And what do you mean 'aren't from around here?'" she continued. "He called me an international terrorist!"

"Well, in our dimension, you kind of _are _an international terrorist." Green defended.

"_Your_ dimension?" Agatha asked in a confused, angry tone.

Misty walked up to the woman. "That's right." She said. "You're an expert on ghost Pokemon, aren't you?"

"Why of course." the woman said with a smile. "They're all I train these days."

Misty smiled back at that. "Tell me, what do you know about Giratina?"

* * *

**More Author's Notes: Bada-boom. Bada-bing. I hope you enjoyed it, despite its size. Here we analyze the core differences between Ash and Red. The basics being, one is dark, and the other is light. One is more serious, the other is more innocent. Both qualities have their ups and downs. They are both great heroes, but Giovanni did ultimately snatch Red's innocence from him. Ash never faced Giovanni and never lost his light demeanor. Also, I think one of the biggest differences between Ash and Red's worlds, perhaps THE biggest difference, is the Elite Four. I mean holy cow, these guys are polar opposites. In Red's universe they are evil international terrorists, on par, and maybe even above Team Rocket. In Ash's universe they are almost all kind, friendly, and even heroic trainers who just happen to be an expert in their type. Lance has tried to destroy humanity several times in "Pokemon Adventures," whereas Lance has saved humanity several times in the anime. I just had to mess around with the concept. Can you blame me?**

**P.S. Before you ask, no, I don't think it is a long shot that Red and his friends immediately assumed that Agatha was evil, despite being in another dimension. Imagine if you went into another dimension and saw Hitler somewhere. The idea that he is evil is just too firm in your head for you to really take the time to assume otherwise.  
**


	7. Round 7: Where's Gio?

**Author's Note: So, I didn't follow up on my promise to get this round out early for one reason: I'm a big, fat liar. No, not really. I was sick the beginning of last week, and I did not have a chance to write. Try not to hate me for my poor immune system. However, I was genuinely surprised at how well the last round was received! You guys broke my record for most views in a single day! Yaaaayyyy! Congratulations! The views also stayed unusually high all week, which, I guess means that my popularity is growing. Since I have no way to actually market my story, I can only assume I'm getting more popular through favorites and word of mouth. So, thank you all for being so supportive of my Fic. It is really kind of you, and it motivates me to get more rounds done. Sorry if today's round is a little slow. I had to get the boring stuff in here somehow.**

**Ship Warning: Implied Specialshipping, MangaQuestshipping, Luckyshipping, OldRivalshipping, Pokeshipping, and... umm... a weird one that I kinda made up. Forgive me, internet.  
**

******I do not own or have any rights to any part of the Pokemon franchise whatsoever. **

* * *

The tour was a long one. Miles and miles of Rocket property stretched out near the base that Jessie, James, and Meowth had directed Giovanni to. In this dimension, Team Rocket was not simply recovering from another humiliating defeat at the hands of Red and his friends. No. The organization was strong, widespread, and powerful. The Rockets did business in several solid regions, stretching far beyond the confines of Kanto and Johto. There were even plans to soon set up in regions as far as Unova. The Team Rocket science division blew away all expectations one might have. The machinery they constructed daily was astounding. The equipment designed for capturing Pokemon and stopping do-gooders was beyond even the most advanced technology that the modern world had to offer. It was a dream come true to the visiting Giovanni. But the dream agonized him.

As he gazed upon the empire that his counterpart had created, Giovanni realized how weak his own organization was in comparison. He did not have the thousands upon thousands of troops that this Giovanni had. He did not have the massive amount of land and technology that this Giovanni had. He did not even have the same amount of Pokemon this Giovanni had. Perhaps his organization _could have _been just as powerful as his counterpart's was if it were not for one factor that halted all possible progress years ago…

"What about Ash?" he asked aloud, interrupting the other Giovanni's demonstration of their newest supercomputer.

"Excuse me?" he responded, turning from the large screen.

The two crime bosses stood in a dark room with a giant computer and a throne-like chair. Jessie, James, and Meowth stood behind their more familiar boss, as he proudly demonstrated the technology.

"I said, 'What about Ash?'" the alien crime boss inquired again. The other Giovanni simply looked at him with a confused glance.

"Ash… Ash Ketchup?" he asked for a third time. "On my way over here, your three grunts told me about this trainer that has apparently foiled your plans hundreds of times. They said his name was Ash."

"Hey! We ARE NOT grunts!" Jessie shot back in an offended tone.

"If anything, we're at least low level insignificant rookies!" James agreed.

"I don't know anyone named Ash." Giovanni responded bluntly. "Besides, if you heard it from these three morons, a whole new level of improbability comes into play."

Meowth sighed. "Seems like no madda which side we're on, we're still da losers."

"No." The new Giovanni said. "You see, back in my dimension, there is a small group of children who call themselves the dex holders. They have been a thorn in my side for years and have shut down Team Rocket on multiple occasions. I always find a way to crawl back out of the ashes and start again, but this…" he motioned around the room. "This seems impossible."

The native Giovanni stared at his counterpart in confusion. He had always simply accepted the power he had without questioning it.

His counterpart continued. "This 'Ash' is the same trainer that sent me and your three grunts-"

"Rookies!" James interjected again.

"Whatever." He sighed. "This 'Ash' is the same trainer that sent me and your three rookies blasting off into the sky earlier today. I got a good look at him. He is nearly identical to Red, the boy who leads the dex holders in my dimension. Surely he is Red's counterpart just as you are mine."

The other Giovanni simply nodded along, following the logic. He did not interrupt.

"My point is, when Red destroyed my organization, he stunned Team Rocket's growth by an untold amount. How have you managed to recover so beautifully from _your_ defeat at the hands of Ash?"

No one spoke for a while. Both Giovannis simply stared at each other as Jessie, James, and Meowth stood there awkwardly. Then, the native Giovanni started to laugh.

"What's so funny?" asked his visitor.

"Shut down Team Rocket?" he chocked out. "We are the biggest crime syndicate in the world! It would take more than a small group of kids and some Pokemon to wipe us out!"

The other Giovanni was unsure how to react to that. He was jealous, but this _did_ make things simpler. "You- You've never been shut down by this 'Ash' kid before?" he asked, making sure.

"Um… the boss doesn't really know a lot about the twerp." Jessie chimed in.

"Yeah. He's our problem ta deal wit'." Meowth confirmed.

That shocked the visiting Giovanni. "So, you mean, all it takes is these three to fight your Red? You don't need an army of troops to take care of this group of kids? Your organization has never been destroyed by the little monsters?"

"Oh, trust me," began his counterpart. "There have been hiccups along the way. Some projects have been scrapped and some people have bested us, but no one has ever shut us down entirely. We strike fear into the hearts of our enemies. We show no mercy to anyone." He let loose a nearly sadistic grin. "We're simply too big to stop."

The visiting Giovanni did not respond to that. He looked at the floor and thought. '_Imagine… a world in which the dex holders had never interfered. A world in which Team Rocket got to grow and dominate.' _He pondered the many wondrous possibilities involved. Ash was clearly no Red. He had not even shaken the same organization that Red had destroyed. But now, with this kind of power, not even Red himself could shut down Team Rocket.

"Ah, here he is!" his counterpart shouted, waking Giovanni from his daydream.

The native Giovanni stood in front of the supercomputer, and a picture of Ash Ketchum had appeared on the screen, complete with a short list of information on the young man. The crime boss had apparently pulled the information up while the alien Giovanni was zoned out.

"This is a Team Rocket Wanted file." He started again. "It is a file in a database that we keep all of our enemies in. If someone has wronged us in any way, you can find all the important information on him here."

Jessie, James, and Meowth were drawn to the picture. James put his finger to the screen and skimmed through Ash's "Basic Information" section. "Assigned to Jessie, James, and Meowth… In possession of a rare and powerful pikachu… Caused arrest of Annie and Oakley… Threat Level: Yellow… Wait… Threat Level: Yellow?" he asked.

The visiting Giovanni smiled. This world's Red was not a threat.

"Well…" spoke his counterpart, "I don't assign the Threat Levels, but he just doesn't appear to have done anything drastic enough to earn a ranking of Level: Red."

"That twerp has nearly killed us, like, a million times!" Jessie argued.

"Yes, remind me to thank him." He spat back.

"Giovanni…" his counterpart began, finally speaking up again. "There is something else that bugs me about all of this…"

"Oh? And what's that?" he asked.

"With all of this technology, all of these men, all of these Pokemon, and no dex holders to stop you, why have you yet to conquer this world?"

Giovanni blinked a few times in stunned realization. "Um… well… you see… I… uh…."

"Yes, go on…" his counterpart prodded.

"Well, there are a number of powerful heroes and trainers in the world…" he began. "We would not begin a legitimate take over unless we were sure we had the upper hand."

"And how do you plan to get the upper hand?" he asked.

"Um… I don't know…" he looked around the room a bit. "We have several projects being worked on. Some have to do with creating a super Pokemon army or capturing a really strong Pokemon or something…"

Giovanni was not amused. "So, let me get this straight…" he started. "You have been running my dream organization for quite a long time now, and your current plan for world domination is to 'create a super Pokemon army or capture a really strong Pokemon or something?'"

The other Giovanni than began to get mad. "Hey!" he shouted. "With the legendaries in this world and powerful trainers like the Elite Four, you have to be careful with these kind of things! Nobody knows that I am the Team Rocket boss! If I'm going to reveal something like that, I'm going to need assurance that our plan will be successful!"

"What more assurance do you need?" the counterpart responded. "Simply train that army of Pokemon you posses to level 100!"

"Level 100?" Giovanni asked. "Like a level in a video game? Are you trying to mock me?"

"N-no…" The other Giovanni was confused now. "Level 100. You know? The moment where a Pokemon has reached the peak of its power and it can't grow any stronger?"

Giovanni laughed. "Surely you bluff! No such 'level' exists!"

The counterpart's eyes flew wide open. '_No…_' he realized. '_No such level exists __**here**__…_' His mind then did a flash back to all of the soldiers, technology, and Pokemon he had seen on his tour. This Team Rocket has had world domination at their fingertips for who knows how long, never smart enough to realize their advantage and take the first step. But he would. "Perhaps we could work out a deal." he offered.

"What kind of deal?" asked his counterpart.

Giovanni produced several folded up pieces of paper from his pocket and handed them to the other crime boss. "These are the works of a man named Charon from Team Galactic, another powerful organization in my world."

"I'm aware of them..." the native boss grunted angrily.

"Before his defeat and arrest, he built the machine depicted here." Giovanni put his finger on the papers. "It is capable of opening a portal to the Distortion World and, if done right, any world." He gave a sly grin. "I got it from a police evidence storage room during my research on the subject."

"So, this is your ticket back home." The other Giovanni tried.

"No, you fool!" he responded. "Don't you see? With your organization's superior numbers and power, a full-scale invasion to this dimension is completely plausible! Don't get me wrong, we should obtain some extra fire power before we just waltz in there to take over the place, but this could set me up as king!"

The other Giovanni's eyes grew wide as he finally understood. "And then I will have an entire second dimension to ally me in taking control of this one!"

"Right." Giovanni confirmed, glad his counterpart finally understood what he was saying. "In fact, what if we went further? Who knows how many dimensions there are out there? If we start this domino effect by simply taking two, we may erect an entire interdimensional empire across the multiverse!"

Both crime bosses were ecstatic about the idea.

"Wow…" James whispered to Jessie. "It's like we are watching history in the making."

"Yeah," she agreed "It's almost scary. Not even the twerp could stop these two if this plan pulls through."

"Well, ya know, der are a lota other heroes out der, Jess." Suggested Meowth.

"Oh, please," she sighed. "Name _one _that could stop this."

* * *

"So this holds information on _all _the gym leaders?" Red asked, as he looked at the small computer sitting on Agatha's desk.

"Yep." She confirmed. "Those files are on every gym leader that has been in or out of office since I joined the Pokemon League."

Red, Ash, and all of their friends stood in a small office in the back of the Viridian City gym with its temporary leader, Agatha. Red was closest to the computer, observing the long list of names that appeared on the screen. Agatha stood directly behind him, and the others stood in a small group behind her.

The dex holders had explained their situation to the Elite Four member with a little help from Ash, Misty, and Gary. Agatha was surprisingly quick to forgive the trio for attacking her earlier. It still felt strange to Red to have Agatha of all people help him with his mission to stop Team Rocket, but he wasn't going to complain. Apparently, in this dimension, the Elite Four were all borderline heroes. Odd…

"There's a ton of names here…" he said with a nervous chuckle.

"Well, I have been in the league for many years now." The old lady responded.

Ash bent in closer to see the list, and Pikachu stared curiously at it from his shoulder. "Maybe there is some kind of search function you can use?" he suggested to her.

"To find this 'Giovanni?'" she asked, "Nope. I'm afraid that all of my files are listed by last name."

"Okay! That's easy then!" Said Gary with a triumphant thought, "Red, just type in Giovanni's _last_ name!"

"Right!" Said Red. "His last name! It's… uh… Green?"

Green looked shocked as all eyes fell on her. "Right… um… Giovanni's last name… Good ol' Mr. what's-his-face…"

Blue sighed as he leaned up against the wall. "None of us know his last name." he gave away.

"Aw! Well, that's great!" moaned Misty, "Now, we're gonna have to run through all of these ridiculous files before we can find him!"

"Sorry." Agatha shrugged, "I really wish I could be of more help."

"Pikachupi!" Pikachu shouted to Ash.

Ash snapped his fingers. "Great idea, buddy!" he patted Pikachu on the head and then looked at Misty. "Misty! You're a gym leader! Surely you know who ran this place before Agatha! Don't gym leaders, like, have league meetings, exchange information, and go to parties and stuff?"

Misty's eyes narrowed. "Hardly, Ash. First off, I've never heard of anyone getting in the slightest trouble for not going to one of those stupid meetings. Secondly, we haven't had a 'gym leader party' since that time Lt. Surge blew out the Vermilion City power grid. And thirdly, ever since I took the gym over from my sisters, I've known that Agatha runs this place. Whoever ran it before her had given up ownership prior to my instatement as gym leader."

"Well that blows that idea out of the water." Sighed Red. "No pun intended."

"A lot of help she was." Grunted Green.

"Okay!" Shouted Misty, "I'm about one more comment away from slapping that sarcasm right out of your mouth!"

"Looked in a mirror lately?" challenged Green, as both girls glared at each other. Their rivalry had grown past even that of Ash and Red's.

"Women! Please!" cried Blue, as he stepped between the two. "We are trying to accomplish something here!"

Both girls simply huffed and turned their backs to each other, arms crossed.

"Misty," Ash said, as he walked around to the direction his friend was facing. "Do you think your sisters might have any files on the gym leaders?"

Misty chuckled a little. "Ash, have you _seen_ my sisters' organizational skills?"

"No." He responded, clearly missing the implication.

"Trust me," she said, "We're better off just sorting through Agatha's billions of files."

Agatha laughed. "Okay. I'm not _that_ old yet!" She turned to Red, who was busy actually attempting the feat on her computer. "She does have a point though, son. If the situation is as dire as you claim it is, we may need to change tactics."

"Trust me, it's dire." Said Gary. Everybody looked at him, even Red, who had been fully engrossed in the computer.

"Have… you had contact with this world's Giovanni?" Blue asked his counterpart.

Gary smiled. "I have." Everyone drew closer to him.

"Why didn't you ever tell _me _this?" asked Ash.

"I did, Ash." He responded. "It just happened a while ago."

"Could you please tell the story?" Red asked.

Gary nodded. "Ever since I entered this gym, I had the feeling that I'd been here before. The memory just now hit me!" he turned to Ash. "Ash, don't you remember the first time we came to this gym?"

Ash grimaced a bit. "How could I forget? I had to battle Team Rocket here to get my eighth badge, and you rolled up in your Mercedes before I even got a chance to go inside. You let me know that you already had ten badges just before you went to fight the gym leader yourself!"

"Right." Gary smiled, suppressing a small chuckle. "When I battled this gym, I didn't face Team Rocket. I faced the legitimate gym leader."

"What did he look like?" Asked Red, excitedly.

Gary gave a small shrug. "He spent a lot of his time hiding in the shadows, but I did make out that he was a pretty big guy. He stepped into the light once… uh… brown hair? Anyway, I'll bet he was Giovanni, seeing as how Ash faced Team Rocket about three minutes later."

Red let out a small sigh. Well, Gary's story was _something_. At least it was a small lead that they could work with.

"That's not the point, though." Gary continued. "He released a powerful Pokemon against me that possessed a ridiculous amount of psychic power. He said he wanted to test it out, and my pokedex was unable to identify it."

The dex holders all gasped in unison.

"How strong was it?" asked Green.

"It lifted my arcanine and nidoking into the air just by moving its hand, right before slamming them into a wall."

"Mewtwo…" Red whispered out of earshot. How could this world's Giovanni have Mewtwo and not have world domination yet?

"If he still has that thing, he's a big threat. No Pokemon I know of can touch that monster." Gary finished.

"That tears it." Said Blue. "We have to find this guy fast."

"I really wish I could help more, children." Agatha offered again. "But I simply was assigned this gym by the League headquarters after it was apparently abandoned in ruins."

"I can vouch for the ruined part." Ash said, raising his hand.

"He's like a ticking time bomb for disasters." Misty added with a smirk.

"If only there was some other gym leader near by that could give us what we need!" Red cried in frustration.

Just then, Misty and Ash both got an idea at the same time. Both looked at each other with a smile across their faces before shouting, "Brock!"

* * *

Things were not looking good for Eric Coleman. Archer, one of the highest Rocket generals, slammed him up against a wall.

"I'm sorry." He chocked out. "He took me by surprise!"

"Oh, I have no doubts that you're sorry." Archer chuckled. "I just want to see _how _sorry you are!" He punched him across the face. "You lost our most powerful Pokemon!" He punched him again. "And all because you were too stupid to go to the meeting!" He threw the grunt to the floor.

"Ya- ya gotta understand!" Eric stuttered. "At the time I had Giratina, there didn't seem to be any reason to go to that stupid meeting."

"Why?" asked Archer, as he inched toward his prey again. "Were you expecting to take the job that is rightfully mine?"

"Of- of- of course not!" he defended.

The two rockets were in Eric's office with a third, much larger, rocket watching the event. The door was locked, and Archer was not about to just forgive Eric for being foolish enough to lose Giratina, even if it was to a powerhouse like Lance.

"Jordan!" Archer shouted, as he turned his head to the third rocket. "Go get Ariana, so she can help me with this pathetic being."

"Yes, General." Said Jordan, as he unlocked the door and swiftly walked outside.

He entered the hallway and continued down the corridor when he heard screaming coming from a room down on the far left. He knew his orders were to find Ariana, but this was at least slightly distracting to the large grunt.

A rocket peaked his head out from the room, and his eyes scanned the hallway before landing on Jordan.

"Hey, you!" he shouted, "We're dealin' with a traitor in here! He tried to sell us out to the cops!"

"What?" Cried the big man.

"Yeah," smiled the rocket. "We caught the punk by tappin' into some cameras at the police station. With Giovanni gone and all, we can't tolerate stuff like this."

"Agreed." Jordan said with a nod.

"Anyway, you seem like a big fella. We're havin' trouble fittin' him in his bag. Mind givin' us a hand?"

"I'll be quick." He responded as he walked into the door the younger rocket held open.

However, as soon as he entered the dark room, he found a typhlosion, a fraligatr, a meganium, and a pikachu glaring at him, ready to attack.

"Well, look at what we've got here." Said Silver as he walked into eyesight.

"What is the meaning of this?" Cried Jordan, infuriated.

As he turned around, he noticed the rocket grunt from earlier closing the door behind him. He removed his hat to reveal the face of Gold.

"Are you guys ever going to see through that one?" Gold taunted.

"You!" shouted Jordan, more than aware of the boy's reputation.

"And he's got friends." Said a slightly higher voice from behind him.

Jordan turned around again to find Crystal and Yellow standing in the light as well.

"If you intend to threaten me, I'm afraid you will be disappointed." The grunt said, letting off a slight smile.

"Nah." Replied Gold. "Threatening you sounds too boring… I'll let Exbo take care of it."

His typhlosion stepped closer to the rocket, flames searing in his mouth, begging for a chance to escape.

Jordan sweatdropped a little bit.

"We're only going to ask this once." Said Crystal "So, pay attention…"

Jordan looked at the girl, trying his best to hide his obvious fear of the four.

Crystal grinned a bit. "Where is Giratina?" she asked.

The rocket looked confused for a moment, thinking this to be some kind of a joke. Then, after seeing the serious expressions every teen was giving off, he began to laugh.

"You've gotta be kidding me!" he cried.

"Does this look like my kidding face?" asked Crystal, as she glared at the grunt.

"Better than most of her faces…" Gold muttered with a small chuckle.

"Hey! I heard that!" shouted Crystal, accusingly.

"Okay, enough of this." Said Yellow, as she walked toward Jordan.

"No, we are not kidding." She said. "In fact, if I don't find out where Giratina is in the next five seconds, I'm going to make sure Chuchu fries your brain so hard that you don't remember where Giratina is either."

"Woah." Said Silver, as he looked at her, impressed.

"Now, now, easy, little girl." Smiled Jordan. "If you really must know, Team Rocket no longer has the beast."

"Yeah right." Said Yellow, a scowl still on her face. "We were there at Turnback Cave! We know what happened."

Jordan was now a little scared again. He realized he had no proof of his story. "N-no! Seriously!" he said. "Lance, the dragon tamer, stole it a few hours ago! He's probably half way across the multiverse by now!"

Yellow's eyes nearly popped out of her head. "What?" she asked.

"It's true. He just marched in here and stole the thing. We couldn't stop him!" he defended.

Yellow fell completely silent, and the other dex holders dropped their intimidating expressions as well. They were too late.

"Huh…" said Gold. "I think we're gonna need a little help on this one."

* * *

A tall, dark boy, well built with spiked hair stood in his kitchen, stirring the stew he was working on. The aroma was one of carrots and meat. Brock had just received a call from Misty. Apparently, she, Ash, and Gary were in some kind of trouble again, and they needed Brock's old gym leader files to help them out. Of course, this meant that they probably just wanted to get the information they needed and go, but Brock knew that it was Ash he was dealing with, which meant he needed to prepare food anyway.

"Let's see…" he muttered, as he stirred the pot. "She said it was her, Ash, Gary, Agatha, and three people from an alternate dimension…"

Brock had weird friends.

"Oh! And Pikachu is gonna want something too!" he realized.

"Hey, Brock!" came a small voice.

Brock turned around to find his little brother at his feet.

"What's up, Tommy?" he asked.

"Ash and Misty are here!" he proudly announced.

"What?" Brock shouted, startled. "How'd they get here so fast?"

"They're in a car." The little boy explained.

Oh. Of course! They were with Agatha. She owned a car.

"Hey, Tommy, remember those cooking lessons I've been giving you?" he asked.

"Uh-huh." Tommy nodded excitedly.

"See if you can take care of this." He requested, motioning to the still incomplete stew.

"Alright!" Tommy shouted, excitedly, as he stood up on a stool to reach the counter.

Brock walked to his front door and opened it to find two of his oldest friends staring back at him.

"Brock!" Ash and Misty both shouted, as Misty ran in for a hug and Ash gave him a high five.

"Pika-Chu!" Pikachu echoed, patting Brock on the head from Ash's shoulder.

"Hey, guys! Long time, no see!" Brock said. "Especially you, Misty! How's the gym treating you?"

"Ugh. Like a headache." She complained. "I'd much rather be traveling like you two."

"Well, actually, I'm looking for a decent medical school at the moment." Brock explained.

"Yeah!" Ash added, "Brock's gonna be a Pokemon doctor!"

"Oh! I don't remember anyone telling me that." She said, glaring at Ash.

As the three friends caught up, Red, Blue, Green, Gary, and Agatha watched from a distance.

"Wow. They sure must be close." Said Green.

"I think they completely forgot we were here." Blue huffed.

Gary chuckled slightly. "Ol' Ashy-boy traveled around with those two for an eternity. They're best friends. Completely impossible to separate."

"Remind you of anyone?" Green asked Red slyly.

Agatha smiled. "You six are more alike than you give each other credit for."

"Exactly." Offered Blue. "So, Red, why don't we just let these guys help us fight Giovanni after this?"

"No!" Said Red, standing by his earlier claim. "They are going to help us find this world's Giovanni. Then, they are leaving!"

"I don't get why this is such a big deal to you." Blue said, aggravated. "They could be a huge help! Our Pokemon are underleveled, we're unfamiliar with the environment, we-"

"Hey, guys!" Red shouted to the trio that was still talking up a storm. "Do you have those records we can look at?"

"Oh! Right!" Said Brock, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. "Please follow me."

He led them to his gym next door, and in the office in the back there was a small computer just like Agatha's.

"Technically this belongs to Forrest now," Brock said, explaining that he had given the gym's control over to his younger brother, "but it still has all of my old records on it."

He sat down in the chair, and the group behind him watched as he turned the monitor on to reveal a picture of a large, sharp dressed man in an orange suit with slick brown hair.

"This the guy you're looking for?" he asked.

"Yes!" shouted all the dex holders at once. "That's him!"

Brock nodded his head. "Once Misty gave me his name over the pokegear, I was on it."

"Why not just call us back and give us his information when you found it, then?" asked Green.

"I wanted you guys to stay for dinner!" Brock said smiling.

"Ugh." Blue moaned, as he face-palmed himself.

Red looked at the info provided by the file. He made a note of his main address in Viridian City. "Makes sense…" he muttered. "He used to run the gym there."

"Alright!" Ash shouted. "Now what?"

"How about properly introducing me to your new friends?" Brock asked. "_All_ your new friends." He repeated slyly, as he moved his head closer to Green's. "Exactly how old are you, ma'am?"

Both Red and Blue were about to say something, but Brock's flirting was swiftly interrupted by Misty yanking his ear.

"No, Brock." She said. "Interdimensional relationships never work out."

Ash was still on the subject of what to do with their new information on Giovanni. "Seriously." He asked. "Should we go to the police?"

"And tell them that we have proof Giovanni is evil because we met alternate dimension versions of ourselves?" Gary laughed. "Not exactly the best plan, buddy."

Ash looked closer at the picture of Giovanni. He _had_ seen him before. Maybe it was just for a second or maybe it was from far away, but Ash recognized the face.

"Well," Agatha offered. "I know someone who will buy your story."

Everyone looked in her direction.

"You do?" asked Red.

She nodded. "He's got all the equipment you'll need to take this man down, and he's a personal friend."

"How do we find him?" Ash asked.

"Just give me a pokegear." She responded with a grin.

* * *

**More Author's Notes: The anime Team Rocket is ridiculously powerful. They have more troops than any other media ever attributes to Team Rocket. They also have more advanced technology than any other interpretation, and they control more areas than any other Team Rocket. Ash is also less involved in stopping them than almost any other Red is. On the other hand, Manga Giovanni is far more ruthless, diabolical, and cynical than any other Giovanni interpretation. I firmly believe that if he had access to the resources that anime Giovanni has, he would take over the world. On one hand, you have massively astounding resources, but a less diabolical leader. On the other hand, you have a very diabolical leader, but less astounding resources. Combine the astounding resources and the diabolical leader, and you have a force to be reckoned with. Manga Giovanni realizes this now. He's about to put a pretty big plan into action. It has been a few rounds since we checked in on the Johto dex holders. I hope you enjoyed them pulling one over on Jordan there, lol! I really love Gold's character. Next to Red, he's probably my favorite dex holder. As far as Brock is concerned, did you really think I was just going to leave Ash's most prominent traveling partner out of this one? Come on. Ending questions: How will Giovanni spring his plan into action? Who does Gold plan on getting help from? Why is Red so worked up about Ash and friends helping him? And who is Agatha gonna call? (Ghostbuster's reference. Get it? Because she trains ghost pokemon? :D *Crickets Chirp*) Most of this will be answered next round. Most of it. Stay tuned.  
**

**P.S. Bonus points to anyone who can guess why Giovanni seems familiar to Ash.  
**


	8. Round 8: Pokemon Recon

**Author's Notes: Well, this round was supposed to have more happen in it, but I underestimated how many words it would take to write the actions, so I have split it up into two rounds. I hope nobody thinks that story is going too slow. Trust me, things are really about to blow up.**

**Ship Warning: ********Pokeshipping**, **Luckyshipping, and OldRivalshipping.**  


**************I do not own or have any rights to any part of the Pokemon franchise whatsoever. **

* * *

Red thought it was strange that Agatha was honestly a kind old lady in Ash's dimension, but he hadn't considered exactly what that entailed. He had heard the counterparts mention that the Elite Four were a team of powerful trainers that held some high positions in the Pokemon League, and he even heard some mentioning of how they had helped stop Team Rocket and other crises on several occasions. However, this did not make anything less awkward when he found out that Agatha was calling _LANCE_ to help them.

None of the dex holders found the situation normal. Agatha greeting Lance on the pokegear like old friends greet each other, Ash running up to her and asking if he could talk to Lance, the entire situation was 180 degrees from anything they were remotely used to. Lance was notorious for being the most crazed, evil, and deadly member of the Elite Four in their world, and here, Gary was excited that he might actually get a chance to meet "the champion."

The dex holders could only stand behind all the commotion in Brock's gym, each with an expression that said "What the heck?" And this expression did not go away until some point after Lance had arrived at Brock's house and Brock had invited him in to have dinner with all of them… What the heck?

As he sat across the table from the man that perfectly resembled one of his archenemies, Red simply gave Lance a look over. The man seemed perfectly calm, mild mannered, and overall a pretty nice guy. He complimented Brock on his hospitality and greeted Agatha with a warm hug earlier. He honestly didn't seem that bad. Although long lived, the shock began to wear off a bit when he asked Red, "So the Rocket boss you guys are looking for is from your world, right?"

Red snapped out of the daze that he (and likely all of his friends) had been in. "Oh… uh, yeah. Giratina sent him to this world, along with us and our Pokemon." He muttered.

"I see…" Lance said, nodding, as he stirred his stew around with a spoon. "And you believe that he has gone to find his other dimensional counterpart, our Giovanni?"

Green shrugged from her seat. "We don't know where else he would go." She offered.

"And if Giovanni really is the Team Rocket leader in our world, we may have a rare opportunity here to shut down Team Rocket for good." Agatha cut in.

Lance nodded again. "It sounds like this whole ordeal might have been a blessing in disguise. We may now know the Rocket boss' true identity thanks to you three."

Red smiled nervously and shrugged a bit. "Always willing to help." He chocked out.

"So, why exactly do you guys need my help?" Lance asked.

"Because you're a detective!" Ash offered.

"Well... we couldn't just tell the police what we've told you." Misty explained. "We don't have any real evidence."

"Yeah!" Ash started again. "We need someone who is willing to go find Giovanni and _get _the evidence."

"Most people would need a warrant to do that…" started Brock. "But you..."

"But, I'm a G-Man." Lance finished. "You know I'm not bound by normal regional laws, and you assumed that I could take care of the situation."

"Right." Said the native group in unison.

"G-Man?" Asked Red. "What's a G-Man?"

"G-Men are a group of people from a secret Pokemon crime fighting organization." Ash explained. "Their jurisdiction is a bit tricky, so they can tackle a lot of different cases without necessarily following common police protocol."

"Wow. Someone has been reading since I last saw them." Misty teased.

"Hey. I can know big words." Ash responded with a smile.

"So, they're vigilantes?" Blue interjected.

"Well, not qui-" Lance began, before he was cut off by Ash.

"Oh! Come on!" The boy cried. "Don't tell me that half of the stuff you three do isn't vigilante work."

Red shrugged again as he swallowed another spoon full of stew. "He's got ya there, Blue."

"We don't actually expect to take the whole Team Rocket organization down in one day." Gary said, returning to the topic. "But we were hoping you could at least help us gather some evidence that Giovanni is behind this."

Lance nodded again. "That would be enough to crack the syndicate wide open." He agreed.

"So, you'll do it?" asked Ash.

"Of course!" Lance said enthusiastically, as he stood up from his seat. "The evidence might be a bit faulty, but I've been waiting for an opportunity like this for a long time! We could finally stop Team Rocket!"

"Alright!" shouted Red, as he too stood from his chair. He liked this Lance more every minute. "Let's do it!"

The two other dex holders jumped from their seats as well shouting similar agreements.

"Hold on!" said Lance. "I'm afraid you three can't come."

"Wahoo! That's what I'm talking about!" roared Ash, as he stood up now "Payback!"

"Pikachu!" Pikachu cheered as well, leaping onto Ash's shoulder.

"No, Ash. You can't come either." Lance insisted.

"What?" the young trainer cried.

"Ash, don't you remember Lance at all?" Misty interjected. "He works alone."

"Oh yeah…" Ash remembered, as he sagged his shoulders down. "Definitely the most boring rule of being a G-Man."

Brock patted his friend on the shoulder. "Don't worry, Ash. It's just an evidence search anyway."

However, Red was not turned down by that suggestion. "Wait a minute! The Giovanni you're looking for is supposedly hiding the Giovanni from our dimension! Don't you think we're a bit of an asset?"

"Maybe." Remarked Lance, as he took his dishes over to the sink. "But not on a simple evidence search. In the end, this is police business. I'm just going to speed up the process a bit. Now, where is that address you told me you had?"

Red probably wouldn't have given it to him and would have instead used it as leverage to follow him, but Agatha had a copy of it as well.

"Here you go." The elderly woman smiled, as she handed a piece of paper with the requested address to Lance.

The dragon tamer gratefully accepted the information and went outside to check his backpack as he prepared to depart. The large group followed him out to wish him well, but as everyone was talking again, Red turned to Blue to hatch a small plan.

"Blue, what if we simply wait for him to go to the address, and then we show up there too? He can't stop us."

"We don't know where that address is, though." Blue countered. "We don't live in this dimension, let alone this dimension's Viridian City. By the time we find the address, he will probably already be done searching the place anyway. It would be pointless."

Red glanced over at Ash, who was currently whispering into Gary's ear. "How much you wanna bet they're talking about the same thing?" he asked.

Blue turned his gaze to their counterparts. "You might be on to something…" he mused. He was about to suggest that Red go and ask them, but the boy had already left to do just that.

Sure enough, Ash was discussing the exact same idea with Gary, and he was met with a very similar response.

"No, Ash. We can't follow him this time." Gary said. "Neither of us are familiar enough with Viridian City to find the address before Lance searches the place. Let's just let him do his job."

"Hey!" Red butted in. "Are you two thinking about following him?"

"Well, _I _was," Ash responded, "but my plan kinda just got shot down." He hung his head in defeat.

Red face-palmed himself. "You mean neither of you know Viridian City well enough to follow him, either?"

"No." both boys responded in disappointed tones.

"Alright!" Lance shouted, as he summoned his trusty dragonite. Everyone's heads turned to the Elite Four member. "I should be back in about two hours. If you don't hear from me by then, I want you to contact Bruno."

Agatha nodded her head. "Got it." She said.

Lance was just about to board his dragon type companion when Green ran up to him. "Wait!" she shouted, grabbing onto his cape.

"What's up?" He asked the girl.

"In our universe, you are an evil terrorist bent on destroying humanity for the good of Pokemon." She explained.

"Um… okay?" Lance responded, as he raised an eyebrow.

"That being said, I've never gotten to do this." Green giggled, as she pulled Lance into a hug and gave him a strong kiss on the lips.

Red's eyes turned the size of geodudes, and Blue growled under his breath at what he saw.

Ash, Misty, Brock, and Gary were also visibly shocked by the action. Brock was clearly jealous, Gary chuckled a little bit, and Ash made a gagging sound with his mouth, causing Misty to slap him in the back of the head.

As Green finished up her kiss, she pulled away and said, "Sorry. I've just always wanted to try that."

There was a short pause between everyone until Agatha started laughing at seeing Lance so thrown off by the moment.

"Um… right…" let out Lance, a little frazzled, and with that, he hopped on Dragonite's back and soared off into the distance.

"Well," snorted Agatha, still muffling some laughs, "with all that excitement, I think it's high time that I had a little bit of a rest."

"Oh! Right!" Brock snapped back to reality. "Please! Allow me to show you to my living roo-"

"I saw it on my way to the kitchen earlier." Agatha offered. "I'll just see myself to it. Thank you, though."

The woman took her cane and slowly walked into Brock's house, chuckling and mumbling about the little scene that had unfolded before her all the way there.

Ash was the next to snap out of it, and he rubbed the back of his head as he turned toward Misty. "What was that for?" he asked angrily.

"For being an idiot, Ash. Not every kiss has to have sound effects, you know."

"Oh! Come on! It was obvious Lance wasn't enjoying it!" he defended.

"Will you grow up?" Misty demanded, as he clasped her hands together and began to look off into the distance dreamily, "Some kisses can be romantic and enjoyable, especially the ones you aren't expecting. You don't know what was going on in his head."

"Why should you care?" Ash bit back, "You've been at odds with Green since we met her."

Misty's scowl returned, and she glared at Ash. "It's not about the person, Ash! It's the principle! You wouldn't know romance if it was staring you in the face!"

"Hey! I would so!"

"Ugh. Trust me on this one, Ash. You would not."

"Would too!"

"Would not!"

"Would too!"

"Would not!"

They continued to go back and forth, as Gary turned to Brock and asked, "Should we do something?"

"Nah." Brock said, shaking his head. "Let them duke it out. They'll snap back to reality in a few minutes."

Meanwhile, Green had walked back over to Red and Blue, noticing the look on both of their faces.

"What was that?!" screamed Blue in disbelief.

Green just turned to the dumbfounded Red and reached her hand out to him, asking, "Pokegear?"

Red was still kind of zoned out, and he didn't really question it. He handed her his pokegear without saying a word.

"No! Seriously!" Blue continued, "How long have you wanted to do that to Lance of all people?"

"Calm down." The girl sighed, as she typed in a few commands on Red's pokegear.

A small map appeared on the screen of the device, and a blinking red dot moved across it quite fast.

"What's that?" Red finally spoke, as he and Blue looked at the map.

"When I kissed Lance, I slid my pokegear into his back pocket so we could track where he was going." Green explained. "Looks like he still hasn't noticed yet."

Red and Blue both regained their composure. Now, that made sense. Classic Green. Now they could go search Giovanni's house without getting lost in Viridian City in the process.

"Nice!" shouted Red.

"What's so nice?" asked Ash from behind the three. Apparently, he and Misty had settled their argument, and the four friends stood behind the dex holders looking at the huddle curiously.

Red was about to think up a lie to keep the others off of their trail, but before he could do anything, Blue said, "Get out your flying types. We're following Lance."

* * *

"So what exactly are we doing?" asked Giovanni as he led his counterpart and a handful of grunts into a room he liked to call "the computer chamber." "My men are already working on your dimension machine. I thought you said that we should be able to overrun your world easily."

The counterpart grinned at him. "Let this be a lesson to you." he offered, "Even when you have the upper hand, a little overkill never hurt."

Giovanni grunted. He didn't like being talked to like that. "Is there something you're afraid of?" he asked.

The other Giovanni chuckled. " 'Afraid' isn't the best word. The dex holders have never failed to surprise me before. I'm simply searching for some… insurance that we can't be stopped." With that, he turned to the troops behind him. "Men, this is the largest computer room that Giovanni has to offer. I have been informed that the database in this hideout has records of all of Team Rocket's past plans. I ask that each of you take a computer and sort through these files. When you find one worthy of noting, e-mail it to me. We'll see what dangers we can put together for anyone that tries to stop our newest plan, and perhaps we will even find a route that allows us to take over my dimension faster." He motioned toward the many rows of computers before him. "Begin!" He shouted, and the many Rocket agents ran to the many different computers and began to access and read through the past files that were stored in the databanks.

"What makes you think that _failed_ plans are going to be our key to victory?" Giovanni asked with a chuckle. "They are _failed_ for a reason."

His counterpart grinned and said, "Trust me, your list of successful plans was quick and easy to go through. I wouldn't imagine that _every_ failed plan you had was terrible. With a little tweaking, we may be able to come across something useful."

Giovanni growled at that remark. Was he really always this arrogant?

"Besides," he began again smugly, "I think we can probably blame a lot of the failures on user errors."

Okay. That was it. He was going to let this clone have it. "I'll have you know-"

"Where do ya want us, boss?" asked Meowth from behind the two leaders.

Both Giovannis turned around to find Jessie, James, and Meowth still standing where the many Rocket troops had been before.

"Did you just call him 'boss'?" bit the native Giovanni in an angry tone.

"Now, now. Think nothing of it, brother." Said his counterpart calmly. "Can't you three use a computer too?" he asked.

"Um… well, no, sir." Began James.

"There's only two computers left." Pointed out Jessie.

The new Giovanni looked at the rows of Rocket grunts typing away and noticed that Jessie was correct. Only two free spots remained.

"Very well." He said. "James, you take the computer on row three."

"Aye, aye, sir." Said the purple haired man, as he ran to his spot.

"And you two!" Giovanni pointed at Jessie and Meowth.

"Y-yes, sir?" they both muttered nervously.

"Get me a latté." He finished, as he made his way over to the only spare computer.

"We're on it!" they both said in unison, as they ran off to fulfill his request.

"A latté?" asked the native Giovanni in a still aggravated tone. "You realize one of them could have used the other computer for you?"

"Right." Said the other dimesional crime boss, as he sat behind a monitor and began typing furiously. "If you want something done right, do it yourself."

"Well what am I supposed to do now?" he asked.

"Oh. Surely you've got something you do for fun. You certainly don't write these plans all day."

Giovanni was steaming by this point. "Fine." He muttered, as he left the room. He was harder to get along with than he thought, but if this plan worked out well, he wasn't complaining.

* * *

Lance returned Dragonite to its pokeball as he looked up at the huge mansion that stood before him. He was in one of the classier parts of Virdian City, and although he was very familiar with the town, he always felt out of place among the higher class.

The building was two-maybe three- stories tall with white paint covering the wood and red bricks everywhere else. There was a balcony coming from the master bedroom on the top floor, facing the road, and the many glass windows were wiped so perfectly that one could see through them like one could see through a clean lake. There were three rows of pillars leading up to the front steps and neatly trimmed hedges on both sides.

"Well I wouldn't be surprised if someone had to commit a few crimes to afford this place." Lance chuckled.

After he noticed all the lights were out in the large house, Lance determined that nobody was home. Then he reached into his backpack and pulled out a black, silk mask. He matted his spiky hair down, and he slid the mask on over his head. Only his eyes were visible, and combined with the dark color of his usual outfit- minus the red- he was virtually a ninja.

The dragon tamer walked to the front door and looked through the window to notice a security camera staring straight at him. He quickly ducked to the floor, and, opening up a pokeball, he summoned his porygon2.

Lance often used this pokemon for recon work with the G-Men. It was trained for hacking rather than battling. After all, Lance only trained dragons.

"Porygon?" the creature asked him in a quite voice.

"Hey, buddy." Said Lance, "I need you to get in there and disarm that security camera. Alright?"

"Porygon." It nodded.

The pokemon began to glow slightly. Then it started to flatten out into a nearly two-dimensional being, as it condensed its data. It jumped into a nearby telephone line, and it traveled in an electric data wave into Giovanni's house. Then, emerging from the phone, it repeated the trick, this time jumping into the video camera. The camera shorted out, and when a small electric streak showed across it, Lance knew he was in business.

"Alright." He said, as he stood up again and took out some tools that looked like high-tech pliers.

He stuck two of the pliers into the main door's keyhole and jiggled them a little bit. The lock clicked open, and he slid his way through the door.

* * *

The clock on the computer changed one last time. He had been sitting at the desk for ten minutes exactly. Lance looked up from his small desk and peered around the room a bit. This Lance was not native to this world. He had managed to sneak his way into this dimension and the Team Rocket base using Giratina, and now Rocket grunts were on computers to every side of him. Giovanni himself was typing on a different row. He felt like he was sitting in a den of arcanine. It could only be a matter of time before someone recognized it was him underneath that Rocket uniform. Then again, that uniform had served him well back in his own dimension. Perhaps no one in this world would be able to connect the dots either. But then again, the existence of another Team Rocket in this world and the existence of another Giovanni in this world virtually guaranteed that he also had a counterpart in this world. Perhaps his counterpart had tried this trick before? Oh. Forget it. There is no time to waste on such silly questions. "Giovanni is up to something…" he whispered, "…and with any luck, I can turn it to my advantage for the good of all Pokemon in both dimensions."

He stood up from his computer and quickly made his way to the large door on the right side of the room. He was nervous as he walked past each Rocket. He was nervous that he might have put his uniform on wrong, that someone might recognize him, that he might have accidentally violated some unknown custom that people had in this dimension…

"Hey! You!" Cried a voice from behind him, just as he was about to exit the door.

He turned to face the voice slowly, pulling his hat down below his eyes in the process. "What's up?" he asked.

The voice had come from Giovanni, who had seen him make a break for it from where he was sitting. "Where are you going?" questioned the crime boss.

"Uh… bathroom." Lance replied with a nervous smile.

Giovanni did not look amused. A scowl appeared across his face as he said, "Doesn't your regular boss tell you to go _before_ we start planning a mission?"

Whew. He hadn't seen through it. "Nope." He lied. He didn't know how this dimension's Giovanni did things, but, at the moment, he didn't really care.

"Fine." The crime boss said with a disappointed tone and a wave of his arm.

Lance nodded and continued out the door.

The hallway was long, well lit, and completely made of metal. Lance had been inside of Rocket hideouts back in his own world, but the more time he spent here, the more he realized how much larger this Team Rocket was than the one he was used to.

He wandered his way down the hall, taking a look at each door he passed. He was looking for some kind of clue as to exactly how Team Rocket planned on taking over his dimension. He couldn't let that happen. They would destroy the balance of nature there. Team Rocket was torturous and evil toward pokemon. The fiends. However, if _he_ could _use _their plan to take over the dimension himself... Well, that would be a blessing.

Rockets jogged past Lance to get to their stations. Many agents rode past Lance in small hover cars. Some Rockets wore lab coats, some carried machinery, and some wore different outfits. Lance didn't honestly know who to follow.

However, one door caught his attention.

The large metal door had a sign on it that read "Authorized Personnel Only," and it had a keypad to the right of it. The person who designed it was apparently dumb enough to put it almost directly across from a door that did not require specifics to enter. Lance ran through the door across from it. Entering in, he found that it was a break room. It was filled with several beds, a TV, a fancy coffee machine, and two vending machines. No one was in the break room. The Rockets were apparently pretty busy.

Lance shut the door behind him, and he turned toward it to crack it open slightly. He could see the "Authorized Personnel Only" door through the crack. Now, he would simply wait here until someone came by and punched in the code.

* * *

In the mean time, Green and Gary were approaching the mansion, riding atop Ditty, Green's ditto, who was currently in the form of an aerodactyl. Red and Blue followed close behind atop Aero, and Ash, Misty, and Brock closed in as well with Charizard.

"Alright." Said Green, looking at her pokegear. "He's in that building."

"I'm telling you all right now that this is a bad idea." Brock warned.

"And I'm telling you Giovanni is dangerous." Said Red, "Even if Lance doesn't need our help investigating, there is still no way to measure the amount of risk he's taking just by being here."

"I believe that." Agreed Ash, "Lance has helped us out a lot in the past. If he's in danger, I'm gonna be sure to come to his rescue."

"Pika!" chirped his best friend.

The trainers began to take their pokemon to the ground, each returning their companions after they had landed.

"Fine." Continued Brock, "But if that's really your fear, let's just stay out here until we hear some trouble."

"No good." Said Green, waving her index finger, "Red said _if_ he doesn't need our help investigating. The more people in there, the better our chances of finding some good evidence."

"Or of leaving clues that we were there." Gary interjected, "Ya know, I'm starting to agree with Brock. This might be a bad idea."

"As long as everyone has a pokegear on them, we'll be fine." Misty assured, "If anyone has any trouble, they can just let the others know."

Ash and Green both gulped at that.

"Uh… I don't have a pokegear…" Ash admitted. "I've never really needed one."

"Never needed one?" Misty sighed, "Ash, you travel all over the planet!"

"Was this all a sly trick for you to get his pokegear number?" Green asked Misty with a mischievous grin on her face.

"Ugh! Of course not!" Misty shouted, as she turned to Green, "He's my best friend! I think if he had a pokegear, I could just _ask_ for his number!"

"Not without blushing, you couldn't." Green chuckled.

"I swear I'm going to-"

"Wait!" interrupted Blue. "Green doesn't have a pokegear either. She gave her's to Lance"

"Fine." Brock gave in, "If we have to go inside, Green can go with Blue and Ash can go with Red. That way we all have a pokegear near by if there is an emergency."

"What?" Ash and Red cried simultaneously.

"Come on." Brock reasoned, as he put his arms around both boys. "You two are gonna have to learn to get along eventually. You're practically the same person."

"Am not!" they both shouted at the same time again.

Gary chuckled a little. "You're only proving his point."

Neither counterpart was happy about this pairing. Green seemed fine with Blue, though.

"Alright!" she chirped, as she linked arms with her friend, causing him to blush a bit, "When do we go in?"

"I'll stay out here." Gary volunteered. "If anyone starts approaching the house, I'll send you guys a text to get out of there."

"Good idea." Ash admitted, "but how are we even supposed to get past the front door?"

"Ahem." Said Blue, as he casually walked over to the door in question and pushed it slightly, revealing that Lance had already unlocked it.

"Alright! Let's find Lance!" cried Ash, as he stormed through the now open door into the dark house.

"Ash! Wait up!" shouted Red, as he ran in after him.

"You're going to give us away!" added Brock, as he hurried into the house.

The whole crew went through the front door, and Gary shook his head sadly as he saw them enter. "If this turns into another battle for the safety of our world, we're doomed." He snickered.

* * *

Lance was getting impatient. He didn't know how much time had passed, but he was still staring at the same door from several minutes ago. Not a single Rocket had even approached the door.

"This is so tedious I think I might actually kill myself before someone shows up." He muttered.

Then, he began to hear voices approaching from down the hallway.

"I told you the break room was this way!" said a feminine voice.

"Well, excuse me for tinkin' it was in hall C. We don't get ta come back to base too often ya know."

Great. They were only here for the break room. Lance sunk back into the room and plopped himself down on a bed, so as to not look suspicious. This was going to be a long day.

The door opened up quickly and Lance witnessed a tall, red headed Rocket girl and a talking meowth enter the room.

"Der's da latté machine!" shouted the meowth excitedly, as he pointed to the strange looking coffee machine next to a snack vender.

He and Jessie both ran past Lance to activate the machine, and as it warmed up, they both simply leaned against the wall and peered around the room.

Jessie glanced at Lance for a second, as he lay on the bed. He seemed familiar somehow. She leaned over to Meowth. "Meowth, do we know him from somewhere?" she whispered.

Meowth took a good look at him. "I… I tink so, Jess. He looks kinda familiar…"

Both Rockets looked Lance over curiously, completely forgetting about the latté machine.

Lance tried to ignore them, but he began to fear that the two might recognize him. The fear that his dimensional counterpart may have done this before resurfaced. He sat up and faced the two.

"Can I help you?" he asked them.

Jessie and Meowth both looked embarrassed. "Oh. It's no big deal!" stuttered Jessie.

"Yeah! We just tought we recognized ya is all!" agreed Meowth.

Lance sweatdropped a bit. "Recognized me from where?" he probed.

"Oh. I don't know…" Jessie chuckled, "We've been so many places."

"Maybe your from another mission?" Meowth suggested.

Lance smiled. He could work with that. "Yes. Of course." He offered, "I'm a high-ranking official, as a matter of fact. That's why I get off time in this break room while all of you are still working hard on our big project."

"Hey!" Jessie defended, "We may normally be pretty low on the field, but ever since we saved the new Giovanni, we have been treated like priority A Rockets!"

"Yeah!" shouted Meowth, "We follow da boss everywhere!"

Lance's eye's lit up. "Everywhere?" he asked.

Both rockets nodded.

Lance walked over to the door and pushed it open. "Even in there?" he asked, as he pointed to the secret room he had been spying on.

"Of course!" they both said.

"Good." Replied Lance, still smiling, "Because, I recently seem to have misplaced the code for that room, and since you two are doing such…" he looked at the latté machine, "…eh… important missions, I'm sure you could help me get back in."

"Of course!" they both said again, smiling. It was rare for them to have confidential information.

"The code is 2384497." Jessie offered.

Lance ran out the room and typed the code into the keypad. The lock clicked. He turned and bowed to the two Rockets in the other room. "Much appreciated." He said.

"Don't mention it!" they cried, waving to him, as he entered the room.

"What a nice guy." Meowth chirped cheerfully.

"And kind of cute too." Smiled Jessie.

Inside, Lance quickly realized why no one had entered into the room yet. There were already a ton of people in it. Most of the Rockets in the room wore lab coats and goggles. They seemed to be constructing some kind of giant laser, and on a high up catwalk, overseeing the entire situation, was a lone Rocket with black hair, a sharp black goatee, and glasses, wearing a lab coat.

Lance peered up at the scientist. He had seen many Rocket agents in his own world, but he had never seen this man. "Who-" he began.

"Hey!" shouted a portly scientist, as he rushed over to Lance's side, "Are you the sick guy?" he asked.

"Uh… y-yeah." He stammered, "I was able to make it in anyway, though. Got my lab coat?"

"Sure. In a minute." Responded the man, "but, first, get your assignment off of the computer."

Lance looked behind the man and noticed a small computer. "Uh… right." He said.

He walked over to the computer and sat down. He saw several files appear on the front page. One was entitled "Various Assignments," and another was entitled "Overview."

Lance opened the "Overview" file. His computer screen was immediately flooded with various information and small animations. Some statistics appeared, showing how substantially weaker pokemon from his native universe were than the pokemon here.

He gripped the pokeballs in his pocket. That scared him.

Information appeared about dimensional fluxes and how certain oscillations of different waves can rip portals into other dimensions.

He looked at the giant, unfinished laser. That's what that was.

Lastly, a clock appeared. It was counting down to something called "The Invasion." The clock said 41:53:17 at first glance and continued to tick away.

41 hours, 53 minutes, 17 seconds. With the number of Rockets this organization had, it was working ridiculously fast.

The dragon tamer began to sweat.

"Huh…" said Lance. "I think I'm gonna need a little help on this one."

* * *

**More Author's Notes: Well, I sincerely hope you enjoyed this one. Like I said, it won't be long before stuff really starts to go down. I also had to cut out a part with Gold, Silver, Crys, and Yellow in it, but don't worry. You should see what they are up to next round. Does anybody know who the Rocket leading the Dimensional Transporter's construction is? Just curious.**


	9. Round 9: Creepy Mansions and You

**Author's Note: Horray for the longest round yet! I won't keep you! We've gotta keep going if we are gonna get to some action! Wahoo!  
**

**Ship Warning: Pokeshipping and OldRivalshipping.  
**

**I do not own or have any rights to any part of the Pokemon franchise whatsoever. **

* * *

**Edit: A heads up to all fans. I've got some important business work I'm doing next weekend. I'm supposed to be preparing a large scale presentation of some of my most recent research. So, I may miss the next update. If I do, sorry for the delay. I will be sure to go back to my regular schedule the following week. Thank you for your patience.**

* * *

The entry way was a large open area comparable to that of a hotel lobby. The floor was tiled in a checkered pattern, and the surrounding décor was just the kind one would expect in a large mansion. Obscure photos of random people and sceneries hung on the wall. A grandfather clock stood in the left corner. A long spiral staircase was to the front on the far right, and on each side of the room there was an opening leading to another wing. The light shone so dimly through the various blinds and curtains that the teens in the house stood in silence with thoughts of haunted houses and evil lairs running through their heads.

"Well…" Ash said in a hushed and trembling voice, "The place sure seems inviting…"

"Chaaa…" his electric companion whined.

"This is why we settle on a plan before coming in." replied Red in an annoyed tone. "Who knows what kind of traps could lie around this place?"

Blue chuckled and leaned toward Green, asking, "How the heck did Red end up being the responsible one?"

"Alright." Came Brock's voice firmly, yet quietly, "Remember the basic plan. Find Lance. Alert the others. We can cover ground faster if we split up, but if there is ANY TROUBLE AT ALL, call everybody."

"Got it." Confirmed the group.

"Okay…" Ash looked around once more, trying to decide which area to explore first. It was just like being a spy! "I think we should try the-"

"Hold on." Whispered Red. "You and I are going together, remember?"

"Yeah. So?"

"Well, I'm the one with the pokegear. So, I think I should decide which way we go."

Ash clenched his teeth. Was it always just one big power struggle with Red? "Well, I'm goin' that way!" he nearly shouted, as he pointed to the left wing.

Misty decided to stop this one early. "Oh, no you're not." She said, as she walked past the bickering boys and into the left doorway.

"Hey!" Ash yelled after her.

She simply turned around and put a finger to her lips, saying "Shhhhh!"

Ash looked confused.

"Ladies first." She explained with a smirk, before turning around and heading through the doorway.

Well, Ash couldn't argue with that, could he? After all, she _was_ a lady, and that _was_ kind of a rule thing…

Brock caught onto what Misty was doing, and before Ash or Red could restate which way they would like to go, he simply shrugged and said, "I'll try the right."

And as he walked out of the room, Green's natural impatience had simply taken over.

"And Blue and I will go straight." She proclaimed, as she again linked arms with her good friend and led him through the doorway right in front of them.

Ash and Red both peered around the room one more time, as they stood alone in the dark.

"Well…" sighed Red, "I guess that leaves us for the stairs."

Ash nodded.

* * *

Giovanni was still scrolling through a massive amount of failed plans at his computer desk. "The Exeggutor Experiment," "Prototype Superball," "Project: Mewtwo," (there was a familiar one). He chuckled a little bit at some of them. How could his counterpart have squandered these massive resources so terribly? With Ash being such a minor threat, most of these failures could be classified under "poor creativity" or "poor management." Hmph. The management. That was surely going to have to change if this master plan was going to be a success. It occurred to Giovanni that his counterpart was not very good at managing people.

He snapped out of his thoughts as he found a small folder entitled "The Celebi Project." That struck his interest. He had always found Celebi and the rumors surrounding the legendary pokemon intriguing. If the pokemon could actually travel through time, like some claimed it could, then it would be very valuable to capture. Naturally, he clicked on the folder and scrolled through the information. The folder held a basic overview of the plan, soldiers who were considered for the job, soldiers who were selected for the job, reasons the plan had failed, etc.

He shook his head in pity as he read that the entire plan was derailed simply because the main operative sent on the mission went missing in his search for Celebi. He could not blame _that_ failure on his counterpart. Celebi was not exactly easy to find. Heck, even with the satellites that this Team Rocket had access to, finding a creature that spends most of its time in thick forests and other timelines was nearly impossible.

However, the crime boss _did_ find interest in one part of the "Overview" section. A pokeball had been designed specifically to help capture Celebi. It was something called a darkball. The designs said that the pokemon encased in the ball lost all freewill and was forced to obey its master entirely. It also increased the pokemon's general abilities beyond that of their natural state.

'_Such a pokemon from this dimension would be unbelievable._' He realized.

The idea was nearly enough to make Giovanni drool. Why had he just heard of this invention? Why wasn't it used on every mission?

"Celebi is great and all," he muttered, "But why not apply this to something better? Something like-"

The thought hit him like a ton of bricks. He may not be able to find Celebi, but there was one thing he could find.

He exited the folder and scrolled back up to the other failed projects that he had passed earlier. He smiled as his cursor landed on the familiar project. He stared at it as though he was expecting it to disappear from the screen before he could open it.

"Bingo." He said, smirking, as he reopened "Project: Mewtwo."

* * *

Ash trudged on behind Red, as both boys continued up the spiral staircase that they had started for earlier. He stared at his counterpart curiously. The determination that Red had was interesting to Ash. It was obvious that Red was just naturally a little bit more serious than he was, but how could he be _this_ serious? It seemed that there was something that had been bugging Red since he had met Ash, and it was causing him to act a little out of character. Of course, this was all speculation from Ash's end, but perhaps if he could find out what was wrong with Red, they could get along.

"So…" Ash tried, "Can you try to explain the whole 'innocence' thing you were talking to me about earlier? I mean, I'd really still like to try and help you guys take down Giovanni."

"You heard Lance." Said Red, calmly, "This is police business."

"Riiiiight…" Ash replied, "And yet, here we are."

"Pika!"

"We're only here to make sure Lance doesn't get into any trouble." Red defended, although he knew he was lying, "Trust me, Ash. You want as little involvement with Giovanni as you can possibly get."

"Come on." Ash came again, "You know that's never how these things end. We're gonna go in and kick Team Rocket's butt!"

Red knew Ash was right, but he did not want to bear the thought of Ash going up against Giovanni.

'_Dear Arcues,_' he thought, '_Please let Lance know what he's doing_.'

"Well?" Ash prodded, still hoping to get some answers out of his counterpart.

Luckily for Red, the staircase ended in about three steps, and he was given the opportunity to change topics.

"Woah!" he cried, as he reached the second floor.

"What is it?" asked Ash, peeking his head up as well.

The room that the staircase ended at had each wall lined with several giant bookshelves similar to the kind found in libraries. Each shelf went so high that a ladder with wheels was actually attached to one end of each shelf in order to reach the higher books. Of course, the room had some décor as well, including several padded chairs and benches, along with small wooden tables and some strange looking persian statues standing alongside several bookshelves.

The two trainers stood in awe of the large room and many books.

"How could one person even read this many books?" asked Red.

Ash just clapped his hands, rubbed them together, and said, "Well, let's get started." As he walked over to a book self, took out a book, and put it back in. He then took out the book next to it and put it back in. He repeated this pattern with Red standing next to him and watching in confusion, as Pikachu jumped off of his shoulder and ran to another row to begin doing the same thing.

"Ash?" asked Red in a curious, yet almost sarcastic tone.

"Yeah?" replied the trainer, without even looking away from his project.

"What are you doing?"

"Oh, come on." Ash sighed. "Haven't you ever seen the movies? One of these books has got to open up an entrance to some kind of secret underground Team Rocket base. It's, like, Evil Villain 101 or something."

Red slapped himself in the face. "Ash you have got to-" Then he stopped for a second. He remembered the walk up to this floor on the staircase. It kind of made sense. The staircase was a spiral. It went straight up. There was a large wall right in front of it that held up this library. If that wall was thick enough, it could house a very similar staircase that led to some kind of secret room… or secret base. It was nothing unusual for Team Rocket.

"Ash… you might be on to something." He started again, as he knelt down and began doing the same thing his counterpart was. "Good thinking."

Ash smiled at him. "Thanks." He said.

* * *

Meanwhile, Blue and Green continued down the new hallway that they had entered. Like the lobby area, the floor in this hall was tiled in a black and white checkered pattern. The right wall seemed to display more strange artwork of various buildings, people, and pokemon, but the left wall was lined with multiple different doors that probably led to different rooms. The hall seemed to stretch out into oblivion, and since there were no windows in the room, the entire area was pretty dark.

"Well, which one should we try first?" asked Green, motioning to the various doors on the left.

"None." Grunted Blue, as he stared at the right wall.

"Why's that, Blue?" Green asked in a flirty manner, "Afraid to go into a small room alone with a girl like me?"

Blue blushed furiously, before closing his eyes and replying, "Not even close. I just want to get a better look at this right wall."

Green eyed the wall curiously. There was literally nothing there. "What's there to look at?" she asked.

Blue smirked a little bit, feeling brilliant. "Come on," he said, "don't you notice that there isn't a single door on that wall?"

"So?" asked Green. "That should just make it _less_ interesting than the walls that _have_ doors on them."

Blue chuckled slightly. "Well, not quite."

He walked over to the wall and put a hand on it before leaning into it carefully with his ear. "It just doesn't make sense with the rest of the layout of the house." He explained, "There was plenty of wall left on the right side of the doorway when we were looking at it in the lobby. So, why isn't any of it used for rooms?"

"Maybe another wing sweeps back over to the area and takes up the space." Green suggested.

"No." Blue replied, still smiling, "Then why wouldn't they just put a door on this wall, connecting the two?"

"Uh… I don't know." Said Green, eye brows furled in frustration, "But it doesn't necessarily mean that-"

"Ah-ha!" Cried Blue, as he tapped on the wall with his ear next to it.

"What is it?" asked Green, now just as curious as her friend.

Blue got off of the wall and turned to Green with a huge grin on his face.

"This wall is hollow." He declared.

* * *

Misty crept into the dimly lit room by herself with a determined look on her face. She could handle herself. She was not the kind of girl who got scared of things easily. Except bugs. She hated bugs.

She assumed that she was in either the living room or some kind of study, as the room seemed to consist of fairly common decorations, such as photos, potted plants, and candles. The room's floor was covered in red carpet, and there were several large windows in the room, all covered by curtains. There was a comfy looking couch near the center of the room and two chairs made out of the same material were off to the right of it. In the dead center there sat a fancy red chair that faced a fireplace. From where Misty stood, she faced the back of the chair.

The room seemed too quiet. It seemed too perfect, and with that chair facing her opposite, Misty could not get the feeling that she was not alone out of her head. She had seen it in a million movies. The bad guy is in the chair facing away from the hero.

Someone was in there with her. She knew it. She could feel it. So, she slowly approached the chair in the center. She took small steps and gripped a pokeball at her waist. Gyarados. If she chose this pokemon, it would definitely give away her position, but it might be worth it. She inched closer and closer to the chair. Her heart was pounding, not out of fear, more like anxiousness. She got close enough to the chair to touch it, and she crept to the other side of the horrible chair, praying that she was wrong, praying that no one was on the other end of it.

Her eyes grew wide, yet she let go of her pokeball as two yellow eyes stared back at her.

"Persian." Hissed the cat pokemon that sat curled up in the chair.

The pokemon jumped to the floor and faced Misty in an attacking stance.

At this point, Misty was not sure what to do. Sure Persian was a threat, but was it worth possibly giving away her position? She knew that if she battled it, she would make a lot of noise. That would not be good.

"Persian…" it hissed again, as it crawled closer to the water trainer.

Misty began to back up a bit, still unsure of exactly what move to make.

Persian's eyes narrowed. It did not like the girl trying to escape. It crouched its hind legs back and prepared to pounce.

"Thunder wave." Someone commanded from the shadows, as a yellow shock wave flew forward and knocked the Persian to the floor.

"Per!" the creature cried, as it found itself completely unable to move.

"There. That outta do that trick." Said the voice.

Misty smiled and let loose a long-held breathe. "Thank you." She said in a completely relieved tone.

"Don't mention it." Said the voice again, as it walked out of the shadows to reveal itself to be Lance and his trusty dragonite.

"Lance!" Misty cried with glee.

The dragon tamer smiled at her. "I'm actually glad to see you." He said, "I need some help."

* * *

Brock had found his way into the kitchen. It had a large assortment of different pots, pans, drawers, ovens, stoves, microwaves, and utensils. It had basically everything a good chef could want… except for a window.

The room was so dark that Brock just opted to turn on the light and risk drawing attention to himself. After all, it was either that or run into every pot and pan in the room, and that would draw just as much attention, if not more.

However, the bad thing about searching a kitchen is that there are so many places to look. There are drawers and cupboards and closets and freezers that anyone could be hiding in. Now, it was not _likely _that anyone was in any of these places, but Brock was a thorough guy. So, when he started hearing noise coming from a pantry on the other end of the room, he investigated it immediately.

The noise appeared to be bags, boxes, and cans being knocked over from inside. Whoever- or whatever- was in there was not about to launch a sneak attack on Brock. He- or it- was locked in.

Brocked approached the door and turned the handle to find that he must have been wrong, because a ninja was inside the pantry.

"AAAAAHHHHHH!" Brock shouted, as he ran back to the front door as fast as he could.

"WAIT!" screamed the ninja, as it chased after him.

* * *

Blue and Green were still investigating their mysterious wall, by pushing on it and knocking on it in any way imaginable, when they heard Brock's scream.

Both of their heads darted up.

"Didja hear that?" Asked Green.

Blue nodded. "It was Brock."

Green crossed her arms and huffed. "Figures one of those three would screw this up."

Blue got to his feet and immediately began racing back to the lobby. "Come on!" he said, "We've gotta see what's going on!"

Green followed close behind him.

The two ran down their mysterious hallway, through the doorway, and into the lobby, where they saw Brock run in, trying to type on his pokegear to warn the others, with a ninja following close behind him.

"Holy cow!" cried Green.

"A ninja?" added Blue.

Just then, the ninja jumped into the air and tackled Brock to the ground.

"No! No! Get off of me!" he screamed in fear, "There are so many women I haven't met yet!"

The ninja pulled off his mask to reveal Lance, albeit with a flatter hairdo than normal.

"Brock. It's me." He said in a gruff, whispery voice.

Brock looked up in disbelief for a moment. "Lance?" he asked.

Lance chuckled a little bit. "The one and only." He said.

Blue and Green looked on in slight shock as well. Everything was going so fast.

"Well, it looks like you found Lance after all." Said Green to Brock, "Congratulations."

"But-but-" stuttered Brock, still shocked, "What were you doing in the pantry?"

Lance blushed a little bit, embarrassed. "Well, I found a secret passageway in one of the guest bedrooms, and upon investigating, it led me into the kitchen pantry." He gave a shrug. "The passage closed behind me, and the pantry doesn't have a door handle on the inside, so I was kind of stuck for a bit. I didn't want to just rip open the door with Dragonite because someone might hear me."

"Ah. Gotcha." Brock said, nodding.

Lance stood up, getting off of Brock. "In fact, this entire mansion has a ton of secret passages and missing rooms. I wouldn't be surprised if we could find a direct way into a Team Rocket hideout from here." He concurred.

"Actually, Green and I just found a really large hollow wall in the front wing." Blue volunteered.

"Oh, really?" Asked Lance, "Well, maybe we shoul- Hey! Wait a minute!" he snapped back to reality and shot an angry look at the three trainers before him. "I thought I told you kids not to follow me! How did you even find this place so fast?"

"Uh… right…" began Green, a little embarrassed, as she walked over to Lance and pulled her pokegear out of his back pocket. "I kinda need this back."

Lance simply frowned at that.

"Oh, come on! Like you've never tracked someone before!" Green bit.

Lance couldn't really argue with that. He had. In fact, he had an entire case of small silver tracking buttons in his pocket at that moment.

"Alright." He sighed. "Where are the others?"

Brock grinned. "Well, now that we've found you, why don't we just text them?" he asked, as he flipped out his pokegear.

* * *

Ash was still digging through books on the second floor. He was on his twelfth row or something, and it was getting tiring. He wasn't about to give up, though. After all, he was quite proud that he had come up with this idea and not Red. He didn't exactly have a personal hatred toward Red or anything, but seeing as how his counterpart was a champion, he felt good having thought of something that the champion couldn't.

Red was on the other side of the room doing the same, when his pokegear vibrated. He opened it up to find a text from Brock that read "Found Lance. Meet in lobby." He put back his last book.

'_I guess this bookcase will have to wait for a while_.' He told himself.

Then, he turned around to tell Ash the news, when he realized his counterpart was standing right next to a marble persian statue with glowing red eyes. He paused for a moment and stared at the statue's eyes carefully.

"No…" he muttered.

He noticed a small blinking in the persian's dimly lit eyes.

"Ash! Get down!" he said firmly, as he ran over to the area and pulled Ash to the floor.

"Ugh. Hey! What gives?" asked a frustrated Ash.

"I'm almost positive you gave away our position." Explained Red, as he hit himself for not noticing the statue earlier.

* * *

Giovanni was sitting in a break room on a bed, sipping some fine coffee and watching TV. He was still a little frustrated about how his counterpart had treated him earlier, but the anger was starting to melt away.

"Mr. Giovanni!" came a voice on his radio.

He picked up the device that was strapped to his belt before asking, "Yes. What is it?"

"We just had a security alarm go off, sir. It seems as though some kids are monkeying around one of the private entrances to our base."

He pressed the button on the radio to talk again. "Well, I'm sure thankful that _somebody _still remembers that I'm the one that is supposed to be informed about these things."

"Well…" the voice came again, "It _is _your house."

"What?"

* * *

"So, you're telling me that we've only got 41 hours left until he tries this crazy idea?" Misty confirmed.

"Precisely." Lance nodded, "And this dimension will be the next to go."

"Wraaaa!" his dragonite agreed.

Misty's eyes widened at that. "But… the pokemon from that dimension are weaker. How could they possibly overthrow _this _dimension?"

Lance chuckled a little. "It doesn't matter that they're weaker. If they have an entire army of Rockets and legendaries plus an entire second dimension of soldiers, this world's armies _will_ fall."

"How can we stop them?" she asked.

"Well, it won't be easy." Said Lance, "But I think that I might have a solution. You see, there has got to be some sort of plan in the works to ensure victory over the other dimension. Giovanni isn't the kind of guy who just decides he can win by power alone. If-"

Misty's pokegear began to vibrate.

"Oh! Hold on a second." She said, as she took the device out of her pocket and flipped it open.

She had gotten a text from Brock. It read, "Found Lance. Meet in lobby." Her heart stopped. If Brock had found Lance, then who was-

She looked at the man she had been talking to, as he looked back at her.

"Is there a problem, Misty?" he asked.

She looked at his hand, where he still held dragonite's pokeball. She peered at it carefully and noticed something that she hadn't before. It was clear. She could see through it. This Lance was not from this dimension.

She gulped silently. What had Red and his friends said about their Lance? All of the memories rushed to her head of the few times that they had talked about him. Terrorist. Psychopath. Evil. She started to back away.

"Misty, is something wrong?"

She gripped her first pokeball again.

"You've been lying to me." She said.

"What? No I haven't!" responded the dragon tamer in a shocked voice.

"Yes you have." She insisted. "You're from Red's dimension!"

He sighed and covered his eyes with his hand. She had found out. His reputation was going to get him into trouble here.

"You're a killer." She continued, "A deranged pokemon rights extremist."

"Exactly!" he said. "Pokemon rights! Think of all of the pokemon that will be mistreated if Team Rocket goes through with this plan!"

Misty backed up faster. "I'm outta here!" she yelled.

"No you're not!" he growled back. "Dragonite! Grab her!"

That was it. She threw her pokeball. "Go! Gyarados!"

Then, the large sea serpent took shape in the room, ducking and squeezing itself so it did not break much, but it still made a lot of noise.

"RWAAAAAA!" The great beast roared.

Dragonite stopped in its tracks, and Lance sweatdropped.

"That's right." Misty declared with a devilish grin, "Surely, you've found out by now that your pokemon are weaker than most pokemon over here."

He grabbed Giratina's pokeball.

"Well, try this one on for size." He muttered. "Giratina! I choose you!"

* * *

Red and Ash were running back down the spiral staircase with Pikachu only a few steps ahead of them.

"Well, how was I supposed to know that it was an alarm system?" asked Ash.

"It was a creepy statue sitting randomly in a room with glowing red eyes! Anyone with a first grade education could tell that it was an alarm system!" Red shot back.

They were coming within sight of the lobby, and they could see Blue, Green, Brock, and Lance standing at the bottom of the stairs, waiting for them.

"Hey!" shouted Green, as the two trainers came into view.

Then, a large crash was heard coming from the left wing. It got everyone's attention, as Red, Ash, and Pikachu stopped dead in their tracks and everyone in the lobby looked to the left.

Red spoke up first. "What was-"

"MISTY!" Ash cried, as he shoved past Red and continued to run down the stairs.

"Oh no!" replied Brock as he ran into the wing as well, followed closely behind by Blue, Green, and Lance. Red continued on behind the group with Pikachu at his side.

* * *

Outside, Gary was sitting on the front porch of the mansion, bored out of his mind. Nothing had happened since he arrived at the place. He just kept a look out on the road ahead of him. Then, all the sudden he began to hear an elevator. It didn't make much since, but he could have sworn he heard an elevator right in front of him.

He stood up and surveyed the area. The elevator was getting closer and closer but from where? He walked toward the increasing noise and found himself leaning on one of the mansion's large decorative white pillars that stood in the front. He put his ear to the pillar, and he heard an elevator traveling up it.

"No way…" he whispered.

The sound was now becoming unbearably loud, and he realized that it might be a good idea to hide. So, he ran around the corner of the large house and peeked his head around to see the action. Sure enough, three of the pillars opened up to reveal two Rockets with guns and Giovanni himself. The two Rockets were ordered to wait outside, and Giovanni approached the door himself.

"Oh boy…" Gary mumbled, as he leaned back against his wall, out of sight. He flipped open his pokegear, and he typed, "Get out now"

* * *

Giratina had appeared in a flash of light and startled both Misty and Gyarados with a mighty roar.

"That's right." Said Lance, "The mighty Giratina! Is the monster that travels different worlds held down by your puny level law?"

"I-I don't know." Misty gave in.

"Neither do I." smiled Lance. "Let's find out."

"Hey!" shouted a voice from the doorway, "Leave Misty alone!"

Both trainers turned their heads to see none other than Ash Ketchum standing in the doorway with a pokeball in hand and a scowl on his face.

"Ah." Replied Lance, "So, you must be this dimension's Red. A pleasure to meet you."

"You…" Ash whispered, "Red told us about you."

"Oh, did he?"

"Hey! He wasn't the only one." Came Green, as she, Blue, and Brock approached the doorway.

Misty smiled at Lance with a face that said "Whatcha gonna do now?"

Lance sweatdropped. "Five against one is hardly fair." He reasoned.

"Make that six." Said Lance, as he walked into the doorway as well and faced his counterpart.

That shocked the pokemon terrorist. "Y-y-you?"

He smiled. "That's right."

"I can't believe- You of all people should be on my side!"

"Do your research before you attack a dimension." Lance chuckled, "I'm always on the good side."

"DON'T YOU DOLTS GET IT?" shouted the angry dragon tamer, "I AM THE GOOD SIDE!"

"Don't feed us that." Came a final voice, as Red pushed his way into the room as well, "I've heard it before."

Things were not looking good for Lance. How did all of these people get in this house in the first place?

Just then, everyone in the room, aside from the other dimension Lance, got a text. Nobody really bothered to read it, except for Brock.

He opened up his pokegear and read, "Get out now. –Gary"

Then, a large creaking was heard at the front door, and everyone began to panic.

The other dimension's Lance grabbed onto Giratina and told Misty, "Don't forget what I told you!" before disappearing into spacetime.

The dex holders and Ash's crew all began to run around, panicking, as Lance said, "QUIET!"

Everybody stopped.

"Follow my lead." He said, as he put his dark mask back on.

* * *

Giovanni entered into the room by himself and turned on the light to find the group of children.

"Ah, ha!" he declared, "I thought I heard noise in here! You little thieves are going to be in big trouble! Now, what on earth were you doing in here?"

Ash stared at the man. He seemed so strangely familiar… so…

"Ash." Whispered Misty.

He turned his head toward his friend, as she leaned in and whispered in his ear, "I think I recognize this guy."

"Me too." He responded, "But from where?"

Lance walked over to Giovanni, his identity still completely concealed. "We were looking for evidence that you were an agent of Team Rocket." He admitted firmly.

"Oh, really?" Giovanni asked in a slightly sarcastic tone, "And are you the police?"

"No…" Lance admitted.

"Then, surely you realize that this entire act is not only preposterous but completely illegal!"

"I've got it!" muttered Brock, as he leaned into Ash and Misty's conversation, "Ash! You _have_ met Giovanni before! Remember the incident in Johto with Mewtwo?"

Ash's eyes lit up, "Oh yeah! This is that same guy!"

"Pikachu!" his partner cried in realization.

Misty recalled the situation as well, "We only saw him for a few seconds on that beach!"

"Right." Brock confirmed.

"You seven realize that I could have you all arrested right now, don't you?" Giovanni bit harshly.

"Go ahead." Remarked Lance, "But remember that the police will have to come in here and check _absolutely everything_."

Giovanni's eyes widened, and, although no one could see it under the mask, Lance smiled.

"Alright." Giovanni gave in, as he addressed the group as a whole. "I'll tell you what. I'll let you crooks go and not file a report with the Viridian City police dept. if you promise to stay away from my property from now on."

"Deal." Lance said, as he turned to the group behind him. "Come one you six. Let's leave."

"Wait." Muttered Red, "But what about-"

"Just come on." Lance repeated in a harsher voice. "It's a good deal. Let's just go."

The teens all got up to follow Lance out when Giovanni said, "Oh, and one more thing."

Lance turned around to face him again. "What?" he asked.

Giovanni reached out for Lance's mask, "I think I have the right to know who broke into my house."

Lance grabbed his arm before he could touch the mask.

"Not on your life, buddy." He growled.

Giovanni frowned with distain. "Well, fine. Just get out of my house!"

The group ran into the lobby and out the door. They got Gary at the porch, and they made their way off of the property.

A little while out, Red finally let out, "Well, that was pointless! We didn't find anything the police can use!"

Misty sighed. "Well, I nearly had a heart attack!"

Ash simply moaned. If only he hadn't stepped in front of that stupid statue!

"Well, I wouldn't say it was a total loss." Lance interjected.

"Oh, how do ya figure?" Green bit.

Lance rolled up his right sleeve to reveal a black poketch on his arm. Smiling, he pressed a small button on the side, and a blinking red dot appeared on the screen with a map beneath it.

The others looked at his poketch with shock.

"But how did you-" began Gary.

"I got the idea from what Green did to me earlier." Lance said, triumphantly, "When Giovanni tried to grab my mask before we left, I grabbed onto his arm and placed a small tracking button underneath his sleeve."

"Nice!" Ash said in surprise.

"Yeah, Lance! Quick thinking!" Misty agreed.

"And the best part is," he continued, "This doesn't only track him. It draws a small map of where he has been. We'll simply let him go about the rest of his daily business today, and tomorrow we'll follow the map to the places he has been. With any luck, it will lead us right to a Rocket base that we can reveal to the police."

"Alright!" Red shouted in happiness. Perhaps they wouldn't have to face either Giovanni after all. All of Team Rocket may have just been cracked open.

"Well, what do we do until then?" asked Blue.

"And more importantly, we can help you track his base tomorrow, right?" asked an excited Ash.

"Well…" Lance began, "You six were kind of helpful to me today. You got me out of a pantry and… in a way you gave me the idea to track Giovanni."

"Yes?" pried Ash.

"Well, I guess if I don't let you help me, you'll just follow me anyway."

"Alright!" cheered the group. They had gotten in on some awesome work.

"But what do we do until then?" asked Blue again.

"I vote we go to my gramps' place." Suggested Gary. "He's got plenty of room for all of us, and he has computers and high tech material that you might be able to use to help with that tracking system of yours, Lance."

"Alright." Agreed Lance. "Your grampa's it is."

* * *

Lance ripped through spacetime back into his own dimension, as he settled on the ground in a grassy field with Giratina.

"Well, that didn't work…" he muttered. "So much for getting help from the dex holders."

But then a voice in his head screamed '_No, Lance! You have got to try again! There is no way you can handle this job alone!_'

He responded to his annoying conscience by asking, '_Well, what am I supposed to do? My reputation precedes me! There is no way I can get Red or his friends to help me!_'

'_Maybe not those friends….' _His conscience shot back.

'_What are you saying_?' he asked himself.

'_You tried one group of dex holders. Now it's time to try another._'

He smiled as his memory clicked. "Gold…" he whispered.

Yes. When Red, Blue, and Green were drug to the other world, they left some very powerful friends behind. Friends that might be willing to help Lance if it would allow them to see the three again.

Lance stood back up. "Time to find some allies." He muttered.

* * *

Meanwhile, Giovanni descended back into his base again to confront his counterpart.

"Giovanni!" he shouted, as he approached the computer chamber. "I just had a run in with our friends. Your dex holders have met up with Ash, two gym leaders, and some sort of masked vigilante."

The counterpart simply turned around in his seat. "Forget about them." He said, "I've got bigger fish to fry at the moment."

"What is it?" the crime boss asked, confused.

His counterpart narrowed his eyes slightly. "Tell me what happened to Mewtwo."

"Who?"

* * *

**More Author's Notes: Okay, so I don't know if some of you guys are psychic or something (maybe psychic type?), but I have had people speculating that Mewtwo would be in this story practically since the beginning. This is why I have now started asking questions at the end of each round, just to see if anyone knows what's going to happen next. You guys are pretty good about this. The plot is pretty much set now, and I haven't decided whether the next round is going to have my next "big event" happen or the round after. The problem is that I have a few slow scenes that I need to include in before I jump into "the event," and I don't know whether they should be in the same round as the "the event" or have a round to themselves, so that "the event" seems more awesome. Idk. You guys tell me what you would like to see. If the pacing seems too slow to include a slow round, let me know. Also, good job on many of you catching the "Mewtwo Returns" reference earlier. I wasn't sure how many people would see that. Lastly, I've been thinking about changing the story's rating to "T." Opinions on that?**

**What do you think will happen next? What would you like me to include? Can Mewtwo be captured? Will Gold and friends be willing to team up with Lance? Does Lance have his own nefarious plans? Are you awesome enough to write a review of my story or perhaps favorite it? Let me know!  
**


	10. Round 10: The Calm Before The Storm

**And I'm back! An extra long round to make up for my absence as we lead into some real action! I'm thankful that so many of you were so patient with me, and I hope you enjoyed my placeholder. You readers are all really awesome! Even you, haters. I'm thankful for everybody. In case you are wondering, the stuff with my job went great, and now it is time for our story! Warning: today's round includes a lot of character development.**

**Ship Warning: MangaQuestshipping, Specialshipping, Pokeshipping, Luckyshipping, and a really really really minor mentioning of Mangapokeshipping.  
**

******I do not own or have any rights to any part of the Pokemon franchise whatsoever. **

* * *

The evening was upon the ocean, and the sun began to lower itself beneath the waves in the distance, producing a glorious and relaxing backdrop. The orange ball of light shone throughout the sky and provided the various shores and islands with the parting gift of many blanketed colors running across the heavens. The grandeur of the setting sun was only challenged by the star-filled night sky that would begin to appear in just a few moments.

Every sailor knew that the sun's parting was a concept to be feared, as nighttime navigation through the waters is simply more dangerous, but none of them thought badly of the light for leaving, as its colors provided a spectacle that one could only stare at in awe.

The same thought was going through the minds of the four dex holders who rode atop a magnificent gyarados that weaved its way between the waves of the sea. The unusual red scales of the monster reflected the parting shine of the sun, and although the teens were on a very important mission, none could help but absorb the moment. They all stood upright on the transporting pokemon and looked out to vast ocean.

"This stinks. I'm bored." Complained Gold, who still lay on his back.

Crystal nearly toppled over.

"Are you kidding me?" she asked her friend in a more than irritated tone, "Don't you see the scenery around us?"

"Yeah…" replied Gold, as he stood up, "It's water. An hour ago it was water, two hours ago it was water, and an hour from now it will still be water. How long have we been at sea anyway? Shouldn't we have reached the island by now?"

"Sinnoh to Kanto isn't exactly an easy trip." Silver answered quietly without looking away from the scene.

"Ugh. Gold, you're missing the point!" whined Crystal. She grabbed Gold's head with both of her hands and pointed it to the distance.

"Look!" she commanded.

Gold's eyes slowly swept over his surroundings.

"Doesn't it make you think of anything?" she prodded, "Life? Nature? The future? Romance?"

Gold paused for a moment in thought. Quite an odd idea popped into his head, but he pushed it away and simply shrugged. "It makes me realize that I'm hungry." He offered.

"Ugh!" Crystal screamed, "You're hopeless!"

She let go of Gold's head and sat down again on Gyarados' back, frustrated.

"I don't get what your problem is." Gold chucked, as he lay back down in his previous position.

"I've got a problem alright…" Crystal muttered quietly.

Yellow and Silver were still staring into the distance in a nearly trance-like state, but Silver couldn't help but notice how engrossed Yellow was in the sight. She hadn't spoken or even really moved since the sunset began. She was so concentrated that it was actually breaking _his_ concentration. He turned to the girl for a moment to observe her in silence.

She was so contemplative... She was so absent…

"You know… it's gonna be harder for us to travel at night…" he remarked in an attempt to reach the girl.

"Mm-hm." She responded softly, barely moving her head to nod.

'_She sure is into it._' Silver reconfirmed.

Curiosity got the better of him. "Yellow," he asked, "What are you thinking about?"

"Red…" she answered in a sad tone, her expression still withstanding.

Silver didn't quite understand. He had noticed some chemistry between Red and Yellow before, but to devote _this_ kind of thinking to him, Yellow would either have to be a much deeper person than Silver thought or have much deeper feelings for Red than he thought. After all, Silver couldn't help but think of Green amidst all of this confusion about other worlds and legendary pokemon, but he wasn't in near the trance that Yellow was.

"You're worried that he is in danger?" Silver asked.

"No." Yellow clarified, "I've come to a point of faith in which I believe that Red is still alive and well. I can feel it."

"Then what is it?" he tried again.

"I miss him…" she stated bluntly.

Silver smiled. "Don't worry." He said, "We'll find him again in no time. We're on our way right now. It's only a matter of time."

"That's what I'm afraid of." Yellow continued, "It's hard to explain what I feel…"

"Try me." He responded.

Yellow finally broke her gaze and turned to Silver.

The boy gave her a modest grin, and she turned back to the sunset.

"Take a look at the sunset." She said, "What if I told you that this sunset was the last one that you would ever see?"

"Well, I'd make sure to get a good look at it." He answered.

"Exactly." She continued, "You would want to take in the moment. Every second matters. You want to experience the sunset to its fullest."

"And… this is how you feel about Red?" Silver tried to understand.

Yellow ran through some ideas in her head. It was so confusing. Not even she fully knew what she was feeling. "For some reason…" she began, "…I feel like our time is limited. I don't doubt Red's ability to survive or even that we'll find him, but I feel like we are running out of time."

She looked at Silver again. "We've been trainers for a long time now." She said, "When does it end? Time keeps going, but so do we. I feel like I haven't been using the time I've had with Red wisely. I feel like something is coming that we aren't prepared for. With dimensions and legends and Team Rocket again, I feel like we are finally out of our league. I feel like _this_-" she motioned to the sunset sky, "-may all be gone soon, and all I want to have is time with Red."

Silver turned around to look at Gold and Crystal, who were both sitting in their own awkward positions, purposefully facing the opposite of each other. They were with each other, even if they preferred it to look like they were feuding. They were both enjoying the wholeness of the other's company.

He looked back at Yellow, who had returned to staring at the last, fleeting moments of sunlight, as the bright star began to lower its very peak beneath the ocean and the sky began to grow dark.

"I understand how you feel…" he offered his friend.

Yellow did not turn to face him, determined to get in the last view of the sunset, as she said, "I feel like this is all going to end badly."

* * *

"Like this, sir?" asked a short, bearded rocket scientist, as he held a sketchpad up to Giovanni's face.

"Yes! Exactly!" he cried excitedly, as he snatched the picture out of the sketch artists' hands.

He turned to his native counterpart, and he held up the picture.

"This pokemon!" he prodded, "Have you ever seen this pokemon?"

The native Giovanni looked over the oddly shaped drawing. The pokemon was a large cat-like creature with two arms and two legs. Each appendage had what appeared to be three fingers/toes. His counterpart called the monster "Mewtwo."

"I have never seen anything like that in my life." He finally let out.

His counterpart cried in frustration. "Come on! You can't be serious! Blaine? The cloning project? Anything?"

"I've got no idea what you are talking about." He shrugged, "And, quite frankly, neither do _any _of the agents that you have brought in here. I mean, you found a rejected file on this… thing, but perhaps it is simply another one of those experiments that went oh so well in your world but never saw fruition here." He added some extra sarcasm to the end of that.

His counterpart hit him over the head with the sketchpad.

"Ouch! Hey! You insensitive jerk! What was that for?"

"For being a numskull." He quipped. "This pokemon is a psychic type. It obviously has just somehow altered your mind."

"Right." Giovanni laughed, "You think it is more likely that a single pokemon with one page of recorded data that only you know about wiped an entire organization's memory than it is that said pokemon simply doesn't exist, and I'm the numskull."

"Trust me." The foreign crime boss assured, "You simply fail to grasp the full power of this pokemon."

"Oh?" he asked playfully.

The counterpart looked again at the picture, marveling at how accurate it was. "Even I probably do not fully grasp its power…"

"Ok, wise guy," Giovanni began again in a condescending tone, "Tell me, even if this thing _does_ exist in this dimension, what makes you think you can capture it? You've obviously yet to try to capture it again in your own dimension."

The other Giovanni chuckled. "Yes, but in my world, I don't have my own personal satellite."

Both men turned to a large computer that was sitting behind them in the room.

"No." Giovanni grunted.

"What was that?" his counterpart asked.

"Do you have any idea how much it costs to control that thing?" he continued, "I am not about to reposition a stinking satellite to try to find your mythical pokemon that probably doesn't exist."

The other Giovanni began to chuckle again. "You just don't get it do you?"

"I get that you're insane." He responded.

"Listen." The counterpart commanded, "In my world, Mewtwo is perhaps the strongest pokemon in existence. However, it still has its limits. It is not immortal. It can be slowed down. It can be defeated. However, with the lack of a level cap in this world, your Mewtwo is likely a near god."

That caused Giovanni to raise an eyebrow.

"All of those rockets we have preparing for the invasion?" he continued, "All of those failed robots and experiments of yours that we are bringing back? They are nothing compared to a mewtwo from your dimension. It could probably rip them apart like toilet paper. In fact, with its mind controlling abilities, it could probably form an army twice the size of our's completely out of random humans and pokemon near the area."

Giovanni was definitely interested now, but he still wasn't sure if it was worth it.

"If it is so powerful, how do you intend to subdue it?"

"I know… ways around its power…" he explained, "After all, I helped build it."

Giovanni looked closely at the computer.

His counterpart continued, "It gives off a very particular psychic signature. I can have you track it and subdue it if you will just let me use your satellite."

He was still hesitating.

"Think about it. The benefit of finding it far outweighs the cost of not finding it if it doesn't exist here."

"Fine." Giovanni gave in. "Let's gather up the satellite control team."

The counterpart smiled. "Oh, please, don't trouble yourself." He offered. "Allow me to get them."

Although confused by the kind gesture, Giovanni didn't ask any questions and let his clone do the dirty work. The other Giovanni left the room with a huge grin on his face.

* * *

However, Giovanni would have to settle for the prize of _third _biggest grin of the night, as Ash and Red where sitting on a wooden swing hanging above Professor Oak's back porch as they laughed their butts off. After the group had decided to return to Professor Oak's ranch for the night, Ash had called his mom to let her know that he was sleeping over, Tracey helped arrange beds for the dex holders, the dragon trainer, and all of his old friends, and everyone had slowly drifted off to doing their own thing throughout the evening. This somehow led to Ash and Red exchanging stories on the back porch, overlooking the ranch.

"Seriously? Twice?" chocked out Ash.

Red nodded amidst his chuckles. "Twice." He repeated, "Once in ice. Once in stone."

Both boys busted out laughing again.

"And I thought it sucked that I got turned into stone _once_!" Ash murmured, wiping a tear from his eye.

The situations in which both boys had become frozen solid were not fun ones, but the way the conversation came up and how similar some aspects of their lives were made both counterparts laugh a lot.

"And seriously? It was_ tears_ that brought you back to life?" Red asked.

"Yeah!" Ash laughed again, "I felt like I was in a Disney movie!"

Both boys chuckled at that.

Red took a breath for a minute, before looking up into the night sky. In Pallet the lack of streetlights and big buildings made the many stars shine beautifully throughout the night. It was Arceus' personal night light, bringing out the extraordinary vastness of the cosmos. Even in this world, Red could recognize the constellations. In the end, it just proved how similar the two dimensions were.

"You know…" he began, "I _did_ once hear that Pokemon tears were full of life." He looked at Ash. "Maybe that's what brought you back that day."

"Maybe…" Ash mused. The idea that such emotion had been expressed over him still made him think to this day. He looked at Red, who had returned to gazing up into the sky. "Hey, Red!"

Red turned back to Ash again. "What's up?"

"Who saved you when you were frozen?"

The smile disappeared off of Red's face, and he looked at the sky again. "Yellow…" he muttered.

Ash blinked twice. "Who's Yellow?" he asked, "I don't think you've mentioned him to me yet."

Red muffled a few laughs at that. It had been a while since someone had mistaken Yellow for a boy, hadn't it? "You remember that healing friend that Green, Blue, and I were talking about when we explained to Professor Oak how we got here?"

Ash nodded.

"She's Yellow." He added. All of the sudden Red couldn't take his eyes off of the stars. He missed Yellow, but in a weird way. He didn't want to miss another second. It was quite like the starry sky. Eventually, the sun was going to come up and illuminate the sky. The stars would be lost to the sun entirely. He did not want to miss a second of it.

Ash was a little thrown off by Red's sudden change of expression. What was going on in his head? This random character shift seemed to come from nowhere, and he was simply entranced by the night sky.

Ash positioned his head next to Red's to see if he could determine what the boy was looking at. When this tactic failed to yield any results he just asked, "Red. What do you see?"

Red blushed a bit and shrugged. "Uhh… Well, you're supposed to be me, Ash. What do you see?"

Ash looked up to the night sky and tilted his head slightly in a contemplative manner. "Hmmm…." He stared at it for a few seconds before finally exclaiming, "I SEE A STARMIE!"

Red nearly fell over. "I'm not sure if that's supposed to mean something or if you are just uncreative." He let out.

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?"

"They all look like starmies, Ash. They're stars!"

Ash squinted his eyes a little bit. "Maybe you're not seeing it the way I'm seeing it."

"Well, explain." Red asked.

* * *

On the other side of the house, Misty sat on the porch steps and stared up into the sky as well. Pikachu sat in her lap.

"Look at how beautiful the sky is, Pikachu." she commented.

"Pika!" he agreed.

Pikachu always had a liking for Misty, and she didn't mind it. It was actually kind of fun to have the cute little rodent around her so often. On some occasions, such as this one, he would even go as far as to momentarily abandon Ash to hang out with his second best friend.

Misty gazed deep into the vast heavens. "It really makes you wonder, doesn't it?"

"Pika?"

"I mean, we know there are different planets out there, and now we even know there are different dimensions out there. Just how big is the world, anyway?"

"Pikachu." Pikachu suggested.

"It's humbling." She said, "It's a constant reminder of just how small we all are and how little we all actually know."

She looked behind her at the lab. "Even someone like Professor Oak, who has devoted his whole life to studying the world knows so little about it."

"Pikapika." Pikachu nodded.

"Do you think we can ever hope to know everything about the world's big secrets? Time? Space? Life? Death? …Love?" her eyes sparkled in the night as she peered up into the sky.

"...You know, Pikachu, I think I can see you in the stars!"

"Chu?" he looked curiously.

"Careful! You stare at those too long and you'll damage your eyes!" came a teasing voice.

Misty whipped around to see none other than Green coming out of the front door of the Oak residence.

"Ugh. What do you want?" Misty asked in a disgusted voice.

Green shrugged. "I got bored. Everyone is hanging out with their counterparts right now, and I don't think I have one."

"And thank goodness for that." Misty mumbled.

"So it was either you, Brock, Lance, Professor Oak, or that weird guy with the drawing addiction." She finished up.

"And you chose me?" Misty asked, still irritated.

"Well, Lance and I aren't exactly on good terms since our kiss, Brock is with him, and the professor is with Gary, showing Blue some Pokemon research stuff."

"What about Tracey?" Misty reminded.

"That guy creeps me out." She explained, "Besides, I think you and I kind of got off on the wrong foot. The others are all at least tolerating each other. I figured that we could try to work past our differences."

"Our differences?" Misty asked, "You straight up berated and insulted my friends and my love life that doesn't exist."

Green got defensive at that. "Well you did the same thing to me!"

"Only _after_ you did it to me!"

"Pikachu…" Pikachu sighed.

"Oh, come on!" Green shouted, "It was natural for me to use my knowledge of your counterpart against you! It's incredibly obvious that you like him!"

"I DO NOT!" she cried back.

"AND HE LIKES YOU TOO!" she screamed.

"Wh…what?" Misty asked.

"Yeah." Green admitted, "The signs are all there. Red likes our Misty too, and on top of that, you don't have me and Yellow to compete against in this world."

Misty was silent for a moment. She didn't say anything.

Then she smiled. "AH HA!" she shouted, as she leapt to her feet and pointed an accusatory finger at Green, "You just admitted that you liked Red!"

"What?!" Green scrambled, "I.. I did not!"

"You so did!" Misty cheered for joy, "I told you!"

"Ugh!" Green groaned in disgust, "Why do I even bother with you?"

And with that, the young dex holder went back inside, forgetting everything that she had said to Misty.

* * *

Blue, Gary, and Professor Oak were all eagerly waiting over a large machine that held one of Blue's pokeballs inside it. The machine was a long cylinder with various buttons and switches on it. One medium-sized computer screen was on the middle of the cylinder, and it displayed various diagnostics about the pokeball that was placed in the glass chamber on the top. One could tell by looking at the see-through pokeball that Blue's machamp lied inside. However, that was not what the three researchers were focused on.

The machine was taking a while to finish its analysis, and since he had no idea when it would stop, Gary asked Blue one more time, "A giratina?"

Blue nodded. "That's what Misty said."

"Aren't you frightened by what that implies?"

Blue looked at his counterpart. "You mean, Lance having Giratina implies that until we can retrieve it from him, my friends and I cannot return back to our dimension?"

Gary nodded.

Blue sighed. "Well, it scares me a little, but we always seem to pull through somehow."

Ding! The machine stopped running and displayed a board of numbers on the diagnostics screen.

Blue took his pokeball out of the cylinder, as Professor Oak and Gary leaned over to read the information.

"Well, what does it say?" he asked.

Professor Oak squinted his eyes. "Yes, it appears that several properties of your dimension are still held to a constant inside the ball. When your Pokemon was caught and transferred into energy, its abilities where put in a kind of temporary 'lock.'"

"Meaning?"

Gary stood up. "Your Pokemon still acts like it is in your world. It still operates by levels, it is still capped at 100, its attacks still hit as such, etc."

Blue smiled. "Perfect."

Professor Oak stood up as well, much slower than his young grandson. "Now, do you two mind telling me what this has to do with Giratina?"

"Of course." They both answered simultaneously.

The counterparts looked at each other.

"Uh… You go first." Gary offered to Blue.

Blue nodded and began. "You see, it has occurred to us that the giratina that both of our worlds are familiar with is the same giratina. That being said, when it was going between our two dimensions, it had to somehow be changing forms to fit the structure that each dimension had."

"I see..." began Professor Oak, as he stroked his chin thoughtfully, "Like the fact that your dimension has levels and ours does not."

"Exactly!" Gary chimed in, "You see, in our dimension, Giratina is very powerful, regardless of the fact that it goes between here and a dimension where Pokemon are comparatively weaker."

"Ah ha!" shouted the professor, as he pointed his finger into the air, "So you wanted to determine if it was continuing to change forms like this after Lance caught it!"

"Right!" the boys replied.

"If Giratina was continuing to change like this, then it would be just as difficult to defeat as ever under the control of Lance." Explained Blue.

Gary chuckled. "But according to this machine here, Pokemon simply cannot change forms after being captured." He patted the machine on the side.

Blue nodded again. "It's very good news. It means that if Lance ends up trying to cause trouble with that thing, we can probably stop him."

Professor Oak smiled at the two young researchers. "Very well done, boys. But, I should warn you, all one has to do to shrug off this property is transfer the Pokemon to another pokeball in this dimension. The dimensional constants will be lost in the transfer."

"That means we need to find Lance quickly." Blue mused.

Gary patted him on the back. "True, but there's no need to worry about it right now. We're gonna do some investigating tomorrow, have the police cripple Team Rocket, and hopefully find your Giovanni, then we'll wait for Lance to come to us."

"Right." Blue agreed.

"For now, how about some tea?" offered Professor Oak.

"Sure. Thanks, Gramps!" Both boys said in unison.

They sweatdropped as they looked at each other.

"Ummm…" Began Blue.

"Let's just pretend like that didn't happen." Suggested Gary.

"Agreed." Said his counterpart.

* * *

"The readings are off the chart!" shouted one scientist.

"I can't believe you were right!" came another.

Several men in lab coats were typing on several high-powered computers and checking energy readings, among them was the same bearded rocket that Lance had seen overseeing the production of the extradimensional laser.

"Extraordinary…" said the man.

The two Giovannis stood in the front of the room watching a large computer that displayed everything their satellite could see, and the computer zoomed in on a dark alley way that showed a purple humanoid pokemon floating in meditation with a brown tattered cape tied around its neck.

Giovanni was at a loss for words. It looked entirely like the drawing. He didn't believe it existed, but there it was… Mewtwo. It honestly must have somehow interfered with his mind.

"Somehow… toldja so doesn't cut it." Smiled his counterpart.

Giovanni scowled at him, and a scientist in the back chuckled a bit.

"What are your orders, sir?" asked the lead scientist.

"Turn the satellite away." Commanded the otherdimensional Giovanni.

"What?" shouted the native crime boss, "But we can still follow him!"

"We know he's in Goldenrod City! Turn the satellite away now!"

The scientists were confused over which one to obey, but that all changed when the Pokemon on the screen lowered to the ground, stood out of his meditation pose, and looked straight at the camera.

"CHANGE IT NOW!" the other Giovanni screamed.

The scientists obliged.

The native Giovanni was in shock, "How… how did it do that?"

"I told you, it's a near god." The counterpart confirmed, "God is always watching, and He is very hard to fool."

Giovanni nodded.

The counterpart faced his team of scientists. "THE NEXT TIME I TELL YOU FOOLS TO DO SOMETHING, DO IT! GOT IT?"

"Yes, sir!" they replied in fear.

"Good." He continued, "Now, set plan M-2.2 into action. I sent you all files of your respective jobs. Start by notifying the others. We're gonna need an army to capture this thing."

"Wait!" Giovanni interrupted his counterpart, "We're going right now?"

"Yes, you moron! It won't stay in the same place very long."

Giovanni huffed. "Excuse me?!"

"Never mind!" his counterpart continued, "The troops need you with them! And I need to go."

He nearly ran to the other side of the room to chat with one of the scientists.

"Is my private project done yet?" he asked a blonde haired woman in a lab coat.

"Almost, sir." She replied, "But we're still working out a few bugs."

"Well, fix them on the way there." He insisted, "We will need it for this fight."

On the other side of the room, three rockets stood in silence and shock.

"W-w-was that what I think it was?" asked Jessie.

"I feel like I've repressed most of those memories." Replied James.

"Why didn't dey tell us dey were searching for Mewtwo before we came in here?" cried Meowth.

These three rockets were several of the few individuals who knew about Mewtwo. They were fortunate enough to not have their memories wiped during their last encounter with the pokemon. They knew of its massive power, and they preferred not to mess with it. Every time Mewtwo became involved, things did not go well.

"What should we do?" James asked his companions.

"We can't let the boss go through with this insane plan." Replied Jessie, "Even if he manages to capture the clone, he'll go mad with power."

The three friends gulped. They knew what that was like.

"Dat'll mean our heads…" Meowth suggested.

"Eventually." Nodded Jessie.

"You aren't really thing about…" began James.

"Taking a stand?" finished Meowth.

Jessie pumped her fist in the air. "Of course! It wouldn't be the first time we did something nice! Plus, it means saving ourselves eventually!"

"I guess so…" offered James, as he continued to contemplate the situation.

"Yeah! Dis is one line dat we can't cross again!" cried Meowth, "Besides, Mewtwo let us keep our memories because he thought we were his friends!"

"That's true." James said with a grin, "Even we aren't rotten enough to betray someone like that!"

"So who's with me?" asked Jessie.

Meowth sighed. "And tah think, we just got a promotion!"

"But, Jessie, we can't take on the entire organization on our own." James reminded her.

"No, but we know someone who can." She smiled.

"The twerp?" both of her friends asked.

"Not only the twerp, but the other dimension's twerp." She continued, "They've both met each other already. All we have to do is be incompetent in completing our parts of the mission until the twerps show up!"

"And we're definitely good at being incompetent!" James smiled.

"Hey! You three!" came a voice.

The three rockets turned around to find Proton standing next to them.

"What are you doing? Didn't you hear the boss? Get to your battle stations!" he ordered.

"Yes, sir!" they cried, before running out of the room.

* * *

Lance and Brock were sitting on a couch in Professor Oak's living room as Brock went on and on about the different adventures that he and Ash had. He mentioned dozens of legendaries, May, Max, Dawn, Paul, his newfound interest in becoming a pokemon doctor, etc.

"You know," Lance began, "I know quite a few pokemon doctors personally."

"Really?" Brock asked with interest, "How so? What's it like?"

Lance let a small laugh escape. "Well, being bi-regional champion certainly has its advantages. I'm not sure exactly 'what it's like,' but I might be able to help you find out."

"Huh?" Brock grunted, confused.

Lance grinned. "What would you say to an internship? I know some people who are offering."

"Really?" Brock jumped with excitement, "That would be amazing, especially if there are any women looking for help! Could you recommend me?"

Lance laughed again. "I'll see what I can do."

He rolled up his sleeve and peered at his poketch, the map of Giovanni still being traced out on the screen.

"You know, Giovanni hasn't moved for a while." Lance muttered.

"Maybe he went to bed." Brock suggested with a shrug.

Lance nodded. "Maybe I should follow his example." He stood up, took off his poketch, and handed it to Brock.

"Make sure nothing weird happens, like two of him appearing or the map disappearing all together. I would need to know if he was on to us."

"Wait. You're going to bed already?" asked Brock.

Lance stretched his arms out. "Yeah, I like to be well rested before I bust international crime syndicates."

Brock laughed. "Alright, then sleep well."

Lance said he was tired, but in truth, he just wanted to sleep. His mind was moving too fast for his enjoyment. He kept turning around the idea of his interdimensional counterpart being such a villain. When Green had told him that he was a terrorist in her world, he didn't think she was lying, but he didn't really care. When he saw himself across the room in that mansion, however, it gave him chills. It was completely different to actually _see yourself_ being a villain. How could two people look so alike and be so opposite? What did it say about his character? He needed rest. After all, he would probably run into his clone again at some point. He headed to the guest bedroom.

Brock, now alone and bored with the situation, headed outside to talk to Ash.

When he arrived on the back porch, he saw everyone but Professor Oak and Tracey engrossed in conversation.

"So, Giratina isn't really a problem to worry about." Blue finished up.

"Thank goodness." Scoffed Brock, "I thought that as soon as we were done with this Giovanni mess, we were going to have an even harder time going after Lance."

"Well, he does have _some_ advantage." Red reminded everybody, "He's the only person capable of traveling through dimensions at the moment. If we ever want to get back home, we'll need him to come to us."

"Maybe..." Interjected Misty, "Team Rocket is planning an invasion. That means that they must have a way to jump between dimensions too."

"I hadn't thought about that!" Gary realized.

"Alright," came Green, "So, Lance has no advantage."

"Good!" replied Ash, pumping his fist into the air, "Then as soon as Giovanni is down, we'll find the dimensional transporter and go after Lance!"

"No!" Red yelled suddenly. All eyes went to him. "Ash, we've been over this. You are not helping us on any search and capture missions!"

"Oh! Come on!" shouted Ash.

"Pika!" agreed his Pokemon.

"This is getting ridiculous! My Pokemon alone are reason enough for me to go with you!"

"No!" Red came again, "This time you have no excuse! Lance is in our dimension! He is our problem!"

"What's _your_ problem?" cried Ash, "Just minutes ago we were looking at the stars together! Now you're yelling at me again? Are you bipolar or something?"

The other friends backed off. No one wanted to get involved in this. Red and Ash's fights had proven to get pretty messy.

"I just don't need your help!" he responded, "Can't you just stay out of it? Lance isn't in your jurisdiction!"

"If Lance has a pokemon that can travel through dimensions, he is in everybody's jurisdiction!"

"Will you quit it?" Cried Red, "This is just something I would rather take care of by myself!"

"Fine." Ash taunted, "Then I guess Blue and Green can just stay here with us."

"Hey, hold on-" began Green.

"That's not what I meant!" Red insisted, "They know how to work on these kind of missions!"

"And I don't?!" Ash asked.

"Just today you triggered an alarm in Giovanni's mansion by standing in front of something that was obviously an alarm!"

Ash stopped. He had to admit that was his fault. He could be kind of an idiot sometimes.

"Team Rocket could have been shut down _today_ if it wasn't for you!" Red yelled again.

Ouch. Ash didn't have a response to that one either. He just looked at Red with a kind of dull surprise expression.

"OKAY!" shouted Blue, as he saw the hurt look on Ash's face, "RED, COME WITH ME, NOW!"

"Why do I-" he began.

"COME ON!" Blue yelled, as he motioned toward the house.

"Ooooo… Someone's in trouble." Green teased to break the tension.

Ash didn't care. He got off of the swing he was still sitting on and walked out into the ranch.

"Ash!" Brock shouted.

"Wait, Ash! Come back!" Misty cried after him.

"Pikapi!" Said Pikachu, as he jumped off of the swing as well, and followed him.

"None of you follow me." He stated bluntly, causing Pikachu to stop in his tracks.

"Pika..." it moaned sadly.

Ash pulled his cap over his eyes and he wandered off into the distance.

* * *

"What is your problem?" Blue asked Red.

"What do you mean?" the boy responded.

"I mean, why won't you let Ash help us? He really wants to, and you keep shutting him down! Since when have I had to be the encouraging one in our group?"

Red crossed his arms. "We just don't need his help."

"No. I know you better than that, Red. You have never been this insistent in refusing help from someone! What's going on?"

Red didn't respond.

"Come on." Blue tried in a much softer tone, "We've known each other for years, Red. You can tell me."

Red sighed. "Blue, do you remember when we first started out as pokemon trainers?"

The boy nodded. "Of course."

"Do you remember what it felt like?"

This time Blue smiled. "It was one of the best feelings I've ever had in my life. I was excited, restless, and full of hope. Too bad that I kept insisting on pushing all of that out of the way in exchange for focus…"

"Right." Red smiled too, "There was a childhood innocence about us. We were overly optimistic, always exciting, and expecting the best. The world was light."

"Right." Began Blue. He chuckled a bit. "What the heck happened?"

Red shrugged. "We experienced life. We were forced to adapt and evolve into stronger, more serious trainers in order to overcome our opponents… and evil."

Blue was still smiling. "Kinda sucks, doesn't it?"

"Well, not entirely." Red shrugged again, "It did help us become the trainers we are today."

"Where are you going with this?" Blue asked.

"In my own opinion," Red continued, "that feeling that I had when I was first staring out was the most important thing I've ever had in my life. I would do anything today to have it back, but it's gone for good."

Blue only nodded.

"Ash is different, though. He still has that."

"How can you tell?" asked Blue.

"Just look at him!" Red pointed out. "Look at how he reacts to things! Look at how he treats his Pokemon! He's innocent! Somehow, in this lighter world, Ash has managed to go his entire Pokemon training career without losing any of that special feeling that new trainers have!"

"And you want to protect it?" Blue concluded.

Red nodded. "I must assume that this world exists in a way that allows trainers to stay like that, and I won't let Giovanni stop it!"

Blue put his arm around Red. "Look, I know how you feel, but it just turned out this way. Giovanni_ is_ here. It's not your place to protect Ash."

Red sighed. "Yes it is, because I'm the reason Giovanni is here."

"What?" Blue asked with a confused glance.

"I kicked him into the portal when we were battling with the other rockets. I've been turning the scenario over in my head. The portal only took four people. One of them was forcibly added. It should be me, you, Green, and _Yellow_ here, but Giovanni is here because of me. Anything that happens from here on out is my fault. Should someone lose their innocence, or, Arceus forbid, die due to Giovanni's presence, I am the one responsible."

Blue nodded. He finally understood his old friend.

* * *

"Hey!" the voice echoed through the forest below, and Ash looked down from the tree he was sitting in to see who had purposefully broken his rule of not following him.

It was Green.

"I told you not to follow me." He sighed.

"Well, technically you told Misty, Brock, and Pikachu not to follow you." She tried, "You never mentioned me."

Ash looked back up at the sky. "Go away." He said bluntly.

It wasn't exactly common for Green to try to comfort someone, so she was not giving up that easily.

"How'd you get up so high?" she asked, "Do you have a flying-type with you?"

"I climbed."

That shocked her. "You climbed all the way up there?"

"Yep." Ash was not talking much.

"Look, Red didn't mean what he said. I'm sure you're a great trainer." She contemplated climbing up the tree but realized it seemed nearly impossible. "I don't know what's up with him, but you should ignore it."

"He thinks he's better than me!" Ash quipped.

"No he doesn't." Green assured, "Trust me, Red can be arrogant sometimes, but he's the nicest guy I know."

"Not to me."

Green thought for a moment. "You beat him in a Pokemon battle! Remember?"

"I had a level cap advantage. It doesn't prove anything."

Green was getting sick of this. Why did she even come here? "Come on, Ash! You can't just let one rude comment get you in such a funk! Surely you've done some stuff before to prove you're great."

"No I haven't!" Ash leaned over the branch to get a better look at Green, "Red is right! I haven't stopped Team Rocket, I can't win _a single _league, and I seem to screw stuff up every time I want to make a difference!"

"Well, what happened to Mr. Saved-the-world-seventeen-times? Huh? That's kind of important!" she bit sarcastically, "It at least seems to be something you're good at! How is hiding up in a tree proving anything?"

Ash's eyes widened. "It's not…" he muttered.

"What?" asked the girl.

"It's not!" Ash shouted again, as he leapt from the tree, landing next to Green.

"I'm going to prove I'm a good trainer!" he announced, as he smiled slyly.

"An-And how are you going to do that?" Green was almost afraid to ask.

"I'm going after Giovanni. Now."

* * *

**More Author's Notes: So, there you have it. Character development at its longest. I hope no one was too upset that the action in this round was limited. I felt that the heroes could use a little break, you know? It seems in place I think, as it works well with the title. What exactly does "The Storm" mean? Oh, you'll figure that out next round. There was also more shipping in this round than I am used to, and I really ironed out the details on that. Hopefully the shippers will enjoy that. I had some over tones, but I also gave some very subtle hints. So, if you see something that seems like a ship hint that fits the ship warning at the top, but you aren't sure, it's probably safe to assume it is a ship. Enjoy. Also, we finally find out why Red had been acting so weird about Ash helping! I think it speaks for itself. Ash lives in a much lighter world than the manga, and Red is responsible for bringing darkness into it. If Ash is harmed or changed by the events, Red sees it as his fault. He doesn't want to take that chance. While it seems that he's been acting rude, he's really been trying to protect his anime counterparts. This weeks questions: What is Manga Giovanni's "private project?" What island are the junior dex holders headed to, and why? Where was Manga Lance all round? Answer away in the review section. Stay tuned.**


	11. Round 11: The Storm Begins

**Author's Note: Well, that was a well deserved one month break. Oh, yeah, and by the way, I'M BACK! Sorry for such a late round, everybody, but school recently started back up for me again. Studying has to come before Fanfictions. I worked on this round on and off in my spare time, but I knew it was going to be awhile before I completed it, simply because my school jumps right into the craziness when it starts. Keeping that in mind, this probably means the end of my weekly updates. Yes, I'm afraid that with my new chaotic schedule I'm going to have to start updating chaotically for a change. This may make it harder for some of you to follow my story. So, I encourage you to put "Pokemon Adventures: AshGray Chapter" on alert now, if you haven't already. I apologize, and I still hope to update semi-regularly. For instance, I don't expect it to take me this long again for quite some time.**

**Other News: I would like to thank PokeRescue18 for reviewing my work recently. I normally don't announce reviews, but I found out that this particular writer is also writing a Pokemon anime/manga crossover. This is a very rare breed of Fanfic. So, if any of you readers like the idea or wish my story had taken a different route, check out his Fanfic, "Crisis on Two PokéWorlds!" Our styles are very different, and our stories are very different. You might get a kick out of it. I'm not done reading it yet, but I have enjoyed it so far. Another writer, Absol-fan, has recently offered to translate "Pokemon Adventures: AshGray Chapter" into French. He has not published any rounds yet, but si vous parlez français, vous devriez regarder son profil: Absol-fan  
**

**Ship Warning: Pokeshipping  
**

**********I do not own or have any rights to any part of the Pokemon franchise whatsoever. **

* * *

Goldenrod City was one of the Johto region's greatest attractions. The sky was lined with magnificent business buildings, shopping marts, and, of course, the famous Goldenrod radio tower. The city's many streetlights were often not even needed to keep the road visible. The open stores and neon signs took care of the problem themselves. The hustle and bustle of daily activity in the big city was just as well noted as the magnificent nightlife, and some speculated that just as many people were involved in each.

However, the darkness of the night was never completely outdone by the immense amount of manmade light and activity. There were always shadows that were thrown across rooftops, unlit roads near abandoned buildings, and dark alleyways between clubs that provided the perfect cover for shady activity. None would ever walk past these areas without the strangest feeling that someone… or something was waiting with patience behind the veil of darkness… watching them.

Luckily for one citizen, tonight that feeling proved to be correct.

A thickly built man in a black leather jacket with ripped jeans grunted as he slammed a young man in a yellow shirt and blue baseball cap up against a damp, gray wall.

"You tryin' to jip me, Joey?" he snarled in a gruff voice.

"I-I-I don't know what you're talking about!" cried the boy, "You won the battle, and I gave you the money fair and square!"

The large man looked at the small bundle of cash that he gripped in his right hand. "Dis is fifty short!" he barked.

"I know!" squealed Joey, "But I haven't been doing good this week! It's all I've got!"

"Oh…" the man calmed down a little bit, "It's all ya got, huh?"

"Yes!" Joey nodded his head vigorously.

The thug contemplated this for a moment as his eyes slowly made their way over to the pokeball that his young "friend" still held in his left hand. "Fine." He muttered, as he lessened his grip on the boy. "I'll just take my payment in pokemon." He offered.

Joey was silent for a moment, and not until he turned his gaze to the pokeball that the big man was eying did he understand what he meant. "No!" he screamed in fear, "Not my rattata! He's, like, in the top percentage of all rattata!"

"Now, Joey," the thug chuckled, "ya gotta pay me full in _some_ way. So, ya can either hand over the pokemon, or I can break your legs and take it from ya."

"Is there a problem here?" came a still and quiet voice.

The big man turned to the street and saw a shadowy figure staring back at him. It was too far away to make out entirely, but he could tell that it was likely an adult male with some sort of tattered outfit wrapped around him.

"Hey, just keep walkin', buddy." He said in response, "This doesn't concern you."

"Oh, in a way it does." The voice shot back, "In a way, it concerns all of us."

"What are you talkin' about?"

"Society, people, pokemon, good, evil. Think about the fact that you apparently suspect that the average person would just walk idly by, while you obviously tried to hurt this boy, simply because the situation doesn't concern them. This is your outlook on society, and I am now granted with the very unique opportunity to either show you that you are right or make you suspect differently. The reputation of all of humanity is on the line."

The man stared back at the figure blankly, still holding a likewise dumbfounded Joey by the shirt.

"Tell me, Kevin, do you really want me to sacrifice all of humanity?"

The man raised an eyebrow, "How do you know my name?"

"I'll give you one chance. Put. The boy. Down."

Kevin looked down at Joey, still being strangled by his t-shirt, and the boy shot a snarky smirk at his attacker. He had a feeling that this was going to end well for him.

"In your dreams!" the thug shouted, as he again faced the mysterious man, "You want a piece of me? Come and get it!"

"Very well." The man responded calmly. He raised his right hand into the air, and, suddenly, Kevin was slammed into the exact same wall that he had Joey pinned to.

Both boys screamed for their lives, but Joey soon found that he was no longer in his attacker's grasp. He had somehow been instantaneously teleported from the dark alley onto the road that the mystery man was standing in.

"Stay put." The man whispered to Joey, as he casually walked into the alleyway.

Kevin looked forward from the wall in horror as the vigilante slowly approached him, his face still enveloped in darkness. No matter how much the thug squirmed or struggled, he found himself unable to move much more than a twitch in his hands and feet. The vigilante came closer and closer.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO ME?!" Kevin screamed in fear, once he finally realized resistance was futile.

"Calm down." Said the mystery man, as he stopped in his tracks. He waved his arm again, and money began to rise up from the concrete floor. It only took Kevin a moment to realize that the winnings from his earlier battle, which he previously held in his right hand, were entirely gone. In his panic, he must have dropped it all on the floor.

"Hey!" he shouted at the man, "What are ya doin' with that? That's my money!"

The cash floated out of the alley and dropped itself down in Joey's hands.

Having returned the money, the shadowy figure turned away from Joey before nearly whispering, "I think you should go now."

The boy happily obliged, and he ran down the sidewalk, not looking back once.

"That was my money!" Kevin kept insisting, in an annoyed voice.

The vigilante glared at him, although his face still was shrouded in darkness. "I'm sorry. Would you like me to take something else instead?"

The thug sweatdropped, remembering that he was not exactly in a position to make demands. "Uh… no. That's okay." He murmured.

"Are you sure?" continued the man's solemn voice, "Because I see that you have quite a few pokeballs on your belt."

Kevin cringed, as he managed to force his head forward a little bit to look at his belt. Sure enough, around his waste there hung three pokeballs.

"How many of _THOSE_ are from poor defenseless kids like him?" the man interrogated.

"Uh… N-n-none of 'em! I swear! This was the first time I have ever tried that! I promise!"

"Well, does it even matter?" the man continued again, "For pokemon to be owned by a trainer as cruel as yourself… well, no creature deserves that."

"No! No!" Kevin cried, "I take care of my pokemon! I swear! They're all I got! I promise I'll do better with 'em! Just please don't take 'em from me!"

The vigilante contemplated this for a moment. He turned from the thug and made a stroking motion across his chin with his hand as if he were in deep thought.

"Fine." He finally said, as he released whatever hold he had on Kevin. The thug dropped to the floor, but in stunned fear, he could merely raise his head to see his attacker.

"There is just one more thing you should know." The man insisted.

"Yes?" Kevin asked in a whisper.

"I have am not a police officer." He began, staring directly at the defeated thug, "I have no higher jurisdiction. I answer to myself. With that in mind, you need to realize how serious I am when I tell you that I will be watching you, Kevin. This incident has been noted as your first strike, and if I ever catch you doing anything like this again, the fear you have experienced tonight will be only a shadow of what awaits you. Do you understand me?"

The boy simply stared at the mystery man, mouth agape, without saying a word.

"WELL?" the vigilante asked again in an irritated tone.

He was met with the same response a second time. However, instead of insisting Kevin answer him again, he looked deep into the boy's gaze and realized that Kevin was not staring at him at all. Kevin's line of sight went ever so slightly above the vigilante's head. He was staring at something behind him.

The mystery man turned around and also gasped in awe as he saw a sky filled with dozens of helicopters, airplanes, and customized flying ships, all with a large red 'R' plastered on the front. A Rocket armada headed straight for the city's entrance, specifically, his alleyway.

The sounds of citizens running and screaming in the streets could be heard building up throughout the city. It started off soft and slowly spread through the town, as more and more citizens began to notice the approaching fleet. Cars began to speed off of the roads, buildings began to close their doors, and a number of police sirens could be heard approaching the area.

"Citizens of Goldenrod!" shouted a loud, enhanced voice from atop one of the airships, "We mean you no harm! We are only here for Mewtwo! If you cooperate with us, this will be quick and painless!"

The vigilante stepped out of the alleyway, and in the light, his purple skin revealed itself from underneath the tattered cape that he wore. Mewtwo looked up into the sky at the impending armada headed in his direction. The legendary narrowed his eyes, "But… how?"

* * *

Red emerged from Professor Oak's guest bedroom, and Blue followed after him. They were both still reflecting over their recent conversation.

"You know, you should tell someone." Said Blue.

"That may only make them more curious." Countered Red, "We've got to make sure to meddle as little as possible in the affairs of other dimensions. This was never meant to happen."

"Well, our journey here has already made a bit of an impact, if you ask me." Blue insisted, "I think the others should know what happened and how you feel. We are definitely in this together at this point."

Red bowed his head in thought for a moment.

"Besides," Blue stepped in again, "How do we really know that none of this was meant to happen? Perhaps Arceus willed it. There may be some sort of order or lesson to learn from all this."

That idea was intriguing. At what point does one start ruling Arceus out of the equation? Does being in another dimension suddenly dismiss the idea of divine influence? Red might have come to some sort of a conclusion to all of these questions had he not been interrupted by a very angry voice.

"Hey!" shouted Misty, as she, Brock, Gary, and Pikachu entered the room. "What's the big idea?"

"What do you mean?" Red asked in a slightly flustered tone.

"You know exactly what I mean!" the girl insisted, as approached Red with furious scowl on her face, causing the young trainer to back up against the wall. "Why'd you have to go be a complete jerk to Ash like that? He didn't do anything to you!"

Blue silently stepped out of the way. He had been watching this Misty. He knew how she worked. He was not going to get involved in this one.

"Now, hold on-" Red tried, as he waved his arms in front of his face.

"No! _You_ hold on, mister!" Misty growled, "You may be a big shot pokemon champion where you come from, but that doesn't mean that you just get to pick on whoever you want!" she was so close to Red at this point that their faces were nearly touching. "Ash is a good person! You two were looking at the stars and laughing together a few moments ago for Pete's sake! You think you can just tell someone off like that when they've been trying to be your friend?"

"Look, Blue and I just-"

"I don't want to hear it!" Misty shouted, "Blue has actually got some manners! If it's regular behavior in your world to repay kindness by being a jerk, then I've never been more happy to be born where I was!"

Ignoring his earlier assessment, Blue decided that he should probably do something to save Red's life. So, as Misty continued to chew the poor champion out, Blue turned to Brock and asked, "You know her better than I. Is there anything we can do to calm her down?"

"If it's about Ash, there's no telling." Brock admitted.

"Pikachu." Agreed the rodent.

Blue looked at Red, who was pinned against the wall with a genuinely terrified look on his face.

"Please?" he asked Brock.

The pokemon breeder sighed. "I'll see what I can do."

"And in _this_ dimension," Misty continued, "if you have a problem with Ash, you take it up with me! Got it?"

"Yes." Red muttered.

"And another thing!" she began again.

"Alright, Misty!" chimed in Brock, as he yanked Misty by her ear, "I think that's enough."

"OUCH!" she shouted, as she turned around and swatted Brock's hand off of her. She paused for a moment and held her ear. "So, that's what that feels like…"

Red took the opportunity to get off of the wall and semi-casually work his way over to Blue.

"Okay," Brock asked Misty, "Are you feeling better?"

"Yeah." She sighed.

"Didja let it all out?"

"I guess." She moaned.

"Good." interrupted Gary. He turned to Red, "Now, maybe we can work out some way for you and Ashy-boy to bury the hatchet? …Again?"

Red was still recovering a bit from the lashing Misty just gave him (she was brutal with those kind of things). So, Blue spoke for him, "Hehe… to be honest…" he started out, "This whole feud between Ash and Red has just been a bit of a misunderstanding."

"Really?" Gary raised an eyebrow. The other two trainers and Pikachu all looked at Blue with curiosity too, as if begging for him to elaborate.

"Well, yeah," he continued, "Red isn't a bad guy. He's actually a pretty kind and forgiving person. He just explained to me a few minutes ago that this whole ordeal has happened almost completely by accident."

"Well, explain it for us." Brock requested.

"Umm…" Blue fidgeted a bit, "I'm not sure if I-"

"It's really private business." Red interrupted. He turned to Blue and whispered, "No meddling, remember?"

"Red," Blue countered, "That is an unrealistic goal! Giovanni is here! We officially _have_ to meddle."

"Pikachu Pika!" Pikachu asked in an angry tone.

"Yeah!" Misty interjected, "This involves all of us now! We have a right to know!"

"We believe you're a good guy, Red, but why be so harsh to Ash?" Brock asked.

"Look," Red finally cut in, "I realize I was probably too hard on the guy. He's a good trainer and a good person. I just don't want any of you to have too much interaction with Giovanni because I feel like he is our responsibility. If someone gets hurt, it's on our heads. We want to protect you guys."

There was silence for a moment.

"Yeah, I can get behind that." Gary finally said, "But you've gotta come up with a better way of doing this around Ash. You really hurt his feelings, and Ashy tends to do some crazy stuff when he gets emotional."

Misty, Brock, and Pikachu all confirmed this.

Red chuckled a little. "Come on, guys. Don't you have faith that your friend is a little more mature than that? What's the worse that could happen?"

Then, as if on cue, Green busted through the back door, covered in sweat and out of breath, before turning to address the five teens.

"Ash…" she panted, "He's going to try to go after Giovanni alone!"

Gary narrowed his eyes on Red and pointed at Green, "_THAT_ could happen!"

"He's doing WHAT?" Red cried in disbelief.

"I… I tried to talk him out of it…" Green continued, and then she looked up at Red, "But… he's more stubborn than you…"

"Of course he is!" shouted Misty, "Ugh! I can't believe him!"

"Is he okay?" asked Brock

"Pi-Pika, Pikachu!"

Red ran up to his friend and gripped her shoulders, "Where is he?" he insisted, "What happened? Where did he go?"

Green chuckled a bit and put her right arm on Red to steady herself. "When I realized I couldn't talk him out of it, I remembered that Lance had the only thing that knew where Giovanni was. So, I decided that if I could beat Ash back here, we could stop him from leaving."

"Brilliant!" Red said, as he smiled at his exhausted friend.

"Well, let's just make sure we secure the poketch before he gets back here." Blue added, "Where is that thing, anyway?"

Brock's face went pale.

Misty, being right next to the pokemon breeder, noticed this immediately and shot him a very serious glare, "Brock, is there something you would like to tell us?"

"Lance gave me the poketch to look after when he went to bed." He stammered, "I think I left it on the back porch earlier!"

Those two sentences sent everyone in the room into a panic and a race to the back door. Red jumped out onto the porch first, and his companions poured out after him, everyone searching up and down the area for a single sign of the device.

"Where is it? Where is it?"

"Did he leave already?"

"Brock, what have you done?"

"PIKA!" Pikachu finally cried out.

The teens all stopped their searching, and their eyes focused on Pikachu. The pokemon stood straight up on the edge of the roof, looking off into the distance with a determined glare. The various trainers crowded around him to meet with his gaze. Then, nearly all at once, they noticed a small light flickering in the distance, seemingly propelling a shadowy figure away from the ranch.

"Ka-Pika-Pikachu." _Charizard._

"That moron!" shouted a still angry Misty.

"That's a suicide mission!" Blue agreed.

"What are we gonna do?" Green let out.

"Alright!" Red interrupted in a firm voice, "If you've got a flying pokemon, use it now! This is dangerous, directly against Lance's orders, and we have no way of telling where he's going. We need to follow him while we can still see him and stop him from getting too far."

Red was on top of Aero almost immediately. "Do NOT lose sight of him!" he reminded, as he shot off into the night.

"I'll get Gramps, Lance, and Tracey." Gary offered, as he went back into the house.

"Okay, come on Pikachu, you're coming with me." Misty told her small yellow friend.

Blue was boarding his charizard when Brock stopped him for a brief moment. "Hey, Blue," he said with concern, "I don't think we can catch him with that big of a lead."

Blue frowned a little bit. "We'll see."

Red was already jetting across the sky with Aero, "Come on, Ash." He muttered, "You can't be this stupid. I swear if you get killed, I'll never be able to live with myself."

And Ash was far ahead, also racing as fast as he could. A wicked frown took the usual place of his optimistic smile, and a beeping poketch with a red dot on it was gripped in his right hand. _'I'll show them.'_ He told himself. _'This will prove that I'm every bit as good as Red.'_

* * *

In Goldenrod, panic was really beginning to set in. More and more people were screaming and running. The police had proven themselves ineffective against aircraft turrets. Almost every phone line had been taken out by various rocket quadrants. Apparently, the message "We only want Mewtwo" did not cheer a lot of people up. The wanted pokemon watched on from the shadows, contemplating what to do and when (or if) he should emerge to stop the chaos. His thoughts were interrupted as a determined woman with blue hair and a police uniform ran past his alleyway and into the nearest police station.

Officer Jenny burst through the door and ran for the intercom microphone located in the back of the office. The intercom's speaker system spread throughout the bulk of the city and allowed officers to give important messages in emergency situations. "Attention, all unregistered aircrafts!" she announced, "You are in a restricted zone! You are ordered to land immediately or the army will be notified!"

The two Giovannis sat on the bridge of their mothership, as they watched the chaos unfold below them.

"Why isn't it showing itself yet?" asked the native crime boss.

"Patience, patience." Reminded his counterpart, "He will be forced to come out eventually. As for now, let's see what we can do about that officer and her idle threats." He pressed the intercom button next to his chair, and in a loud, clear voice, he said, "Fire the EMPs!"

Not a moment later, several of the ships fired a huge electronic pulse into the shy, and it burst its way through the air, covering the entire skyline. The shockwave carried on to the ground, and every electronic in the city shut off at once. The town went dark.

"Alright." Giggled the visiting Giovanni again, "Let's have some fun."

"Put me on mic!" he ordered some men.

* * *

Jessie, James, and Meowth were in the mothership as well, and the three saw everything unfold from the window of their floor.

"You know," James mentioned to the others, "I expected Team Rocket's victory to look a lot less scary."

"Yeah." Meowth agreed, "All da sudden, gettin' a promotion doesn't look like it was such a good ting."

"Oh, will you two quit worrying?" Jessie added in, "We have a plan, remember? As soon as the twerps get here, we bail and help them out."

"Yeah, but what if the boss finds out?" James asked.

"Who cares anymore?" Jessie let loose, "The new boss pretty much runs everything now, anyway."

"But he's da one dat likes us!" Meowth reminded.

Jessie took another look at the now pitch-black city falling into utter chaos. "But… then again, maybe we can just wait until we're really sure the twerps need our help to do anything."

"Now, I like that idea!" James smiled.

"Minimal work, maximum credit!" Meowth cheered.

"Attention, Goldenrod!" boomed the new Giovanni's voice. All three rockets shut up to hear the message. "Your police force is useless. Your outside contact has been cut off. If anyone attempts to leave the city, we will kill you. All that we ask, is that Mewtwo give himself up."

The city streets were quiet for a brief moment. Those who were not taking the time to realize how much trouble they were in, were simply wondering what a "Mewtwo" was.

Nothing happened for minutes. The city was silent. The fleet was silent. The two groups seemed to just stare each other down for ages.

Giovanni recognized the lack of a response. He grabbed the mic again. "Fine. Then, we will just start firing on the city until he surrenders himself to us."

The ships began to advance again.

People began to scream again. People began to run again. The chaos became twice as abundant as before, but not a second before Giovanni uttered the first order of attack, every airship in the sky came to a halt again. No one had ordered them to stop. They just stopped, and as every crew member murmured in confusion, a strange purple glow enveloped them all.

"Stop this madness." Came a voice. Everyone heard it as though it was right next to them.

Those still in the city streets looked all around their presence to see where it had come from. Then, amidst the gasping and pointing of hundreds of citizens, Mewtwo elevated into the sky until he was on level with the armada. His cape was still flapping in the wind.

"I am the one you are looking for." He announced.

"My goodness." The native Giovanni smiled, as he looked out his main window. "To see it in person is even more invigorating! How can I hear it so clearly?"

His counterpart chuckled, "It's called telepathy. Wait until you see what it is _really _capable of."

"I don't know how you got your memory back." Mewtwo continued, "But this is not a show for your amusement, Giovanni! You will not use these people as leverage against me!"

The ships shook slightly and bending metal could be heard from the street.

"It knows my name!" the native Giovanni said in awe.

"The simple joys of a simple mind…" sighed the other.

"If you are looking for the other clones, they are not here. I have made sure to keep them somewhere safe. I am in no mood to play games with you. Come out and confront me face to face or retreat immediately." Mewtwo threatened.

The Giovannis sat in the bridge thinking about this offer.

"Well, that's not going to happen." Said the native one.

"It's obviously some sort of trap, sir!" added in Executive Archer.

The new Giovanni, on the other hand, was still thinking. "Hm…" he mused, "Interesting."

"What is it?" his counterpart asked.

"Your Mewtwo. His personality is different from the one in my world."

"Well, you aren't actually thinking about going out to talk to him, are you?" Giovanni questioned.

"Not without a few hundred men, I'm not." He responded, "But it may give me a chance to launch my secret weapon."

"Secret weapon?" the native crime boss raised an eyebrow.

"Yes," he said with a grin, "A device so foolproof that after I use it, he will practically be mine."

"Ours." His counterpart corrected with a suspicious glance.

"Whatever." He conceded.

"Do you need my help?" the native Giovanni offered.

The other boss laughed as he got up from his chair and began to walk out of the bridge. "No. Just stay up here and look pretty."

* * *

"I need a response NOW!" commanded Mewtwo, still holding the ships in his grasp, "I do not wish to destroy all of you, but if I have to, I will!"

"Alright, Mewtwo!" the native Giovanni's voice echoed from the mothership, "You've got us. A party is being deployed at this moment to meet with you face-to-face."

The confused citizens of Goldenrod were almost all inside of some kind of shelter by this point. They could only imagine what was playing out above them. They looked into the sky wondering… hoping… praying.

Just as the citizens waited, Mewtwo floated in the air without saying a thing as he saw an uncountable number of rockets emerge from the top of the mothership, all sporting SWAT gear styled uniforms and carrying uniquely large guns. He knew that none of these toys could defend them from his power. Lastly, a rocket in a white lab coat with black hair and a goatee calmly jogged to the top of the ship with a large trunk in tow, followed by none other than Giovanni himself.

Mewtwo scowled and cautiously lowered himself onto the ship.

* * *

Ash eyed the poketch carefully as Charizard let out a low grunt.

"Yeah, buddy, we're almost there. Don't worry." He assured, "Giovanni is gonna get what's coming to him."

Charizard huffed, and a small puff of smoke came from his nostrils.

"Honestly, this whole flight has really helped me calm down a bit." Ash chuckled.

He looked at the map on the poketch and stared at the blinking red light on it.

"But I just can't stand what Red said to me." He continued, "Is Team Rocket really still out there just because I'm incompetent? I mean, credit where it's due, he said he shut them down in his world."

Charizard let out an incoherent growl in response.

"It just seems like he does everything better than I do... " continued the boy, "He's more serious than me. He's more determined than me. He's a hero, a leader, … a champion…"

This time Charizard let out a huge roar.

Ash held the poketch up to his face again. "You're right!" he proudly announced, "Now's my chance to set things right! Imagine how silly Red will feel once _I_ take down Team Rocket for a change."

Ash leaned back in a more relaxed manner. "Who knows? We may even be able to find and catch _his_ Giovanni tonight. Wouldn't that be something?"

Charizard stopped in its path, and Ash nearly flew forward due to the sudden change.

"Hey!" called the trainer, "What gives?"

Charizard let out a small huff and motioned his head forward.

To Ash's horror, Goldenrod City lay directly before him in complete darkness, and an armada of planes, helicopters, and battleships surrounded the area.

He sweatdropped. "That can't be good."

* * *

Meanwhile, Professor Oak's lab was in a situation so hectic that it rivaled that of Goldenrod's. Gary, Tracey, Oak, and Lance were running through the building making phone calls, gathering pokemon, and getting information on the situation.

"What on earth could make him think this was a good idea?" shouted an irritated Lance, as he gathered up his appropriate G-Man gear.

"Ash has a habit of getting a little… testy when people insult him the way Red did." Gary explained, "He's always had a bit of an issue with that."

"Yes? Well, where are you now?" asked a half-dressed, yet fully panicked Professor Oak on his phone.

"Professor." Tracey leaned in the room, holding another phone, "Should I call Mrs. Ketchum?"

The professor covered his phone for a moment, "No, Tracey, we don't want to drag Delia into this mess too. We may be able to get Ash back yet."

"Right." Tracey nodded and headed back through the door.

"Okay, okay!" Oak said, switching back to the phone, "Well, how long ago did you lose track of him?"

On the other end of the call, Red was still riding Aero through the skies at neck break speed.

"I'm not positive!" he shouted over the winds, "It can't have been more than five minutes ago!"

The dex holder looked behind him to find the other trainers on Blue's Charizard and Ditty in the distance.

"The others are still following me!" he said, "Should I let them know that we lost his trail?"

"No. Not quite yet." The professor remarked as he typed away at his computer.

Lance, Gary, and Tracey convened behind the elderly scientist, trying to see what he was doing.

"Could you explain to me the landmarks you passed again?" he asked Red.

"Right. Well, I know we went over Tojho Falls a while ago. Then we passed a few small towns and a kind of miniature gulf."

"Hm…" Professor Oak typed some of this information into his computer, and he looked carefully at the map on the screen. "It would appear as though Ash is headed in a completely westward direction. Provided he hasn't left Johto, I believe we can infer Giovanni is in the upcoming Goldenrod City."

"Can we be sure of that?" Red asked.

"Well, we can never be entirely sure." Professor Oak responded, "But it does seem to match Ash's current path so far, that and Azalea Town. I can't imagine why Giovanni would choose to go to a place like Azalea Town at this time of night, though."

"Alright, I'll make a course for Goldenrod then!" Red returned, "And see if you can get Lance up here!"

"Already on it." Reported the dragon tamer, who was indeed in the process of boarding his dragonite.

"Do you know the way there?" Tracey asked him.

"Of course I do." He said with a grin, "Being born in Johto gives you some good familiarity with the area."

"Hold up." Came Gary, as he ran and jumped on Dragonite's back as well, "I'm coming with you."

"It's just a retrieval mission." Lance assured him.

"Then why'd you pack your spy gear?" Gary asked, as he pointed accusingly to Lance's backpack.

The dragon tamer gripped Dragonite's back. "Smart kid. I'm thinking Ash beats us there."

"Which means a battle." Gary finished with a nod.

"Hang on tight." Lance offered, and Dragonite sprung into the air.

* * *

"So, you are from another dimension?" Mewtwo clarified.

The legendary psychic type stood atop Team Rocket's mothership, which still floated above the blacked out city. He was surrounded on all sides by several hundred rockets wearing body armor, belts with full loads of six pokemon, and several different types of guns. He was not even fazed. The scientist with the mysterious chest stood next to Giovanni, and Mewtwo couldn't help but want to crush both of them.

"Precisely." Giovanni responded, "I took the liberty of reintroducing competence to the Giovanni you are familiar with."

"I've gone through quite a lot of trouble to keep my existence a secret since our last meeting." Mewtwo continued, "You had better come up with a very convincing argument for why I should not send you hurtling into the sun right now."

"Simple." Giovanni continued, also unfazed, "You see, war takes time. For years people throughout history have looked for some kind of golden bullet to use that would end a war quickly. People have searched for magic relics, appealed to powerful deities, and, in more recent times, developed new technology just to make conquering a little less costly."

Mewtwo did not like where this was going.

"I have discovered that the pokemon of this wonderful world are easily twice as powerful as those from my own, due simply to design. So, obviously, my next move would be to capture a few, return to my home, and wage war against my dimension until they _have_ to put me into power."

"Then why bother with me?" Mewtwo asked.

Giovanni chuckled and waved his index finger playfully. "Oh no, Mewtwo. You are far too smart to not know the answer to that one."

Mewtwo narrowed his eyes on Giovanni.

"You are my golden bullet." The crime boss whispered, "I _could_ conquer my world with pokemon from this dimension… eventually. I would likely lose a lot of men and a lot of time, but I could do it. There is still that pesky issue of Red and his friends. They now have access to this dimension too. They always seem to throw a wrench into my schemes."

"So, you want me because it makes things more convenient for you." Mewtwo concluded.

"Exactly." Giovanni smirked, "See, I told you that you would get it. You tie up so many loose ends that I couldn't simply leave you here."

* * *

Ash landed on the back of a battleship that was hovering nearby the mothership as Mewtwo and Giovanni had their meeting.

"Charizard, return." He whispered, as he brought his fire type back into its pokeball.

Ash crouched to the ground and crept forward in hopes that he could overhear the conversation being had in the crowd of rockets.

Mewtwo's eyes opened wide for a moment. He sensed Ash.

"Ash?" he asked the boy telepathically.

"WAHH!" Ash cried out quickly when he heard the voice in his head. He quickly dove to the floor of the ship and covered his mouth.

"What was that?" he whispered.

"It's me." The voice continued, "Mewtwo. I'm speaking to you telepathically."

"Mewtwo?" Ash asked in his mind, "Wh-what are you doing here?"

"Me? This even more psychotic version of Giovanni flushed me out in an attempt to take over the multiverse… I think. What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to take down Team Rocket and capture Giovanni." Ash responded, "It's a long story."

"Well, consider it over." Mewtwo responded, "I'm about to end this thing right now. Take cover and stay safe."

"So," Mewtwo directed this one to Giovanni, "What is there to stop me from just teleporting out of here and leaving you moronic humans to find me again?"

"Oh, dear Mewtwo," Giovanni responded with a chuckle, "If you do that then you will be dooming the citizens of this fair city. We will not leave until we either have you or everyone in town is dead."

"So, I either go with you or fight all of you?"

The rockets raised their guns. Ash, still aboard the other ship, ran over to a higher part of the machine to take cover.

"Yes." Giovanni confirmed with a nod.

Mewtwo began to float in the air and his eyes glew a light purple as psychic energy surrounded him on all sides, "YOU HAVE WILLED IT UPON YOURSELF!" he shouted.

Giovanni, remaining calm, scratched his head as though trying to recall something. "Where have I seen this before?" he asked sarcastically, "Oh, yes! I was in a situation very similar to this one a few years back. What was it I said there again?"

Things began to float in the air, and the metal in the ships and in the rockets' armor began to bend. Mewtwo just exerted more and more psychic force, charging up for one detrimental blast.

"Ah, yes," Giovanni remembered, "That massive power of yours is dangerous Mewtwo… Don't mind if I tone it down a little."

And with a snap of his fingers, the scientist next to him opened the chest he had been holding. A large metal exoskeleton jumped out of the crate and bound itself onto Mewtwo.

"AAAAARRRGHHH!" screamed the pokemon, as the metal overtook his body. He lost most of his psychic grip and fell to the floor of the ship.

Ash gasped in horror from where he stood.

* * *

**More Author's Notes: Well, I hope you enjoyed today's round. I will be working on the next one as soon as possible. This storm has only just begun. Do any of the manga fans know what just happened to Mewtwo? (Hint: Check FireRed/LeafGreen Chapter). As always, feel free to speculate in the review section about what is going on. Also, I raised this Fanfiction's rating to T. You can imagine why. We've got some pretty great stuff coming up in the future, as well as a second (much shorter) Fanfic that I am considering writing soon. I will probably get it out before I'm done with this one. After all, I don't think I'm half way through this story yet! Enjoy.**

* * *

**Q and A with Fan (SPOILER ALERT!)  
**

**Q: You mentioned the Unova region here. Does that mean Black and White might appear in this fanfic?  
**

**A: Yes.  
**

**Q: Since Giratina is a Pokemon native to Sinnoh, will Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum appear as well?  
**

**A: Yes, in fact, I originally had written them in to appear by the 7th round.  
**

**Q: Mewtwo in the anime is said to be near god in this fanfic. How powerful would the anime Arceus be? Will it even appear in this story?**

**A: As I made clear in the AN of round 5, the anime pokemon just seem stronger than the manga pokemon when comparing the two media. I'm not buffing anyone up just for this story, but I am representing them true to their media. The anime Mewtwo IS a near god. In the movie, not a single pokemon other than Mew was able to even HARM him, he destroyed skyscrapers at his whim, he created a storm that one character suggested could destroy the world if it progressed by just lazily waving his hand in a circle. Anime Mewtwo is easily one of the most powerful pokemon ever represented in any media. Therefore, anime Arceus' power would be likewise represented as it is in "Arceus and the Jewel of Life" (Pokemon: The 12th Movie), and seeing as how the only way Ash managed to stop its rampage was by going back in time and stopping it from getting angry in the first place, it is pretty dang powerful. Arceus is not currently planned to appear in this fic.**

**Q: What made you say that Red, Green, and probably the other Dex-Holders lost their innocence? Sure, Pokemon Adventures is notably darker than other forms of Pokemon media. But still, from what I've read, Red is still a bit innocent (but he's like 16-20 so it's only natural that he matures) it's just that the fight are too serious and dark.  
**

**A: The manga just suggests that they have. Throughout "Pokemon Adventures" Red, Blue, Green, and the other dex holders mature as characters. They become more serious, deal with more mature problems, and have overall darker stories. This is not necessarily a bad thing. It has its ups and downs just as Ash's eternally child-like behavior has its ups and downs. Ash and Red were both written their respective ways in order to aim toward their target audiences, but, at the same time, it makes them both different sides of the same coin. Perhaps if Ash were born into Red's darker world he would eventually become more serious and mature, and perhaps if Red were born into Ash's lighter world he would be more innocent and child-like. The entire concept of this minor difference between the two characters and their worlds open up a ton of different philosophical questions about life, fate, and reality that I think are quite beautiful. I'm not saying Red is less innocent as in "he is somehow tainted," I'm just saying that his inner child is not as present as it once was, while Ash still has that same "kid feeling" that he had on episode 1.  
**

**Q: Is this story right after the DP chapter, the Platinum chapter, or the HGSS chapter?  
**

**A: I like to put it in an unspecified future for the manga. It simply takes place after the last "Pokemon Adventures" manga you read. The dex holders have gone on many different adventures since then. This will especially become apparent once I reveal that the Kanto dex holders are familiar with the Sinnoh dex holders, as they have yet to meet in manga canon.  
**

**Q: Almost forgot -_-; Will Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald appear? (I'm betting on no)**

**A: Yes (sorry I made you lose your bet).  
**

**Q: Are you going to even answer my questions soon, or are you just going to put the answers in the following rounds?**

**A: Both.  
**


	12. Round 12: VS Giovanni

**Author's Note: Boom! Round 12! Haha! I bet you guys thought I was going to make you wait another week! Nope. Here is my first ever Sunday release! You guys deserve it! I hope you enjoy as we go deeper into the storm and some interesting events unfold, but for now, I've got homework to do. Enjoy!**

**Une version française de cette histoire est disponible ici: ****Absolette**

******Ship Warning: Specialshipping  
**

******I do not own or have any rights to any part of the Pokemon franchise whatsoever. **

* * *

"Alright, everybody, calm down!" cried Officer Jenny.

The police officer had her hands more than full as she stood atop a wooden crate yelling at the many panicking people inside of a pitch-black supermarket. The police force had been dispatched to various parts of Goldenrod in order to deal with the massive crowds of citizens taking shelter indoors from the invading rockets.

"What are we going to do?" many cried.

"Are they going to kill us?"

"How long has Team Rocket had this kind of technology?"

"They're going to take our pokemon!"

"The power is out all over town!"

"My little boy is still at the house with his father!"

"Stay calm! I repeat stay calm!" she tried again. It was a hopeless attempt. The citizens were far too much for the woman to handle by herself. "We've received reports that a strange psychic type pokemon recently ascended above the city!" she continued, "It's highly possible that this is the 'Mewtwo' the rockets were looking for! Our current orders are to stay indoors and await further instructions!"

"Oh no! Is that true?" came a girl's voice from behind the officer.

Jenny turned around to confront the citizen, but the lack of lighting in the supermarket foiled any attempt for her to make out a face. She could only see what appeared to be the shadows of three children looking back at her among the chaotic scene.

"I-I'm sorry." Jenny tried, "Were you talking to me?"

"She was." Came the shorter shadow next to the girl. "Did you just say that Mewtwo was here?"

"Well, we aren't entirely certain." Began the officer again, "But reports of a humanoid, purple, psychic pokemon rising above the city to confront the rockets have been released."

"Is that him?" a larger shadow asked to the small shadow.

"It sure sounds like it." He replied back.

The girl shadow leapt forward, grabbed onto Jenny's shoulders, and began to shake her. "Officer Jenny, you've got to do something to stop this!"

"Easy!" Jenny responded, as she slapped the girl's hands off of her, "It's dangerous out there! Nearly every electronic in town is down, all communications have been cut, and there are _armed_ airships directly above most buildings! We're trying to get a SWAT Team over here soon, but for the moment, nobody is going outside!"

"You don't understand." The smallest shadow began again, "There is a reason Team Rocket is looking for Mewtwo! That pokemon is basically an unstoppable weapon! You have got to make sure they don't get their hands on it!"

"For your information, the rocket fleet announced that they would leave without force if they found this Mewtwo." Jenny assured.

"Jenny," the girl piped up one more time, "You have got to believe us! Even if Team Rocket does leave after getting Mewtwo, they'll just be more powerful than ever before. The next time they attack it will be a thousand times worse than this!"

"Oh, for goodness sake." she sighed, finally deciding to reach to her belt strap and pull out a flashlight, "Just how do you know so much about this strange pokemon, anyway?"

"Because I've seen it before!"

The officer clicked her flashlight on and saw the three children that stood before her for the first time. One was a girl in an orange short-sleeved outfit with a backpack and belt. She wore black and white gloves on both hands and a green bandana was wrapped around her brunette hair. Next to her was a green haired boy, about the same height, dressed in jeans, a long-sleeved black shirt, and an open purple button up. And the third member of the group was a much shorter (obviously much younger) boy with black hair and glasses, who sported a green shirt and black shorts.

"Well, we technically didn't see _it_." Corrected the younger boy, "It was a hologram."

The girl grabbed Officer Jenny by the shoulders once more. "Listen, you have got to believe me! My name is May Maple! My father is Norman, leader of Hoenn's Petalburg Gym! You can check it if you have to! I have seen Mewtwo's power before, and if Team Rocket gets their hands on it, then we'll all be in huge trouble! There has got to be some way for you to get that SWAT Team here faster! Even if it involves going outside near those ships, it's worth it!"

Jenny didn't slap the girl's hands down this time. She calmly looked May straight in the eyes. The girl was honestly worried. She was more terrified that Team Rocket might capture Mewtwo than she was that they might open fire on the city.

"Please…" May quietly asked.

The green haired boy stepped up from behind her, "My name is Drew. I am a pokemon coordinator, and I can vouch for her."

The younger boy stepped up as well, "I'm Max. She's my sister, and I can vouch for her too."

Jenny looked carefully at the concerned party. They were not bluffing.

"I'll see what I can do." She said with a nod. Then she calmly walked to the supermarket's front door and left the building.

* * *

"Urrg…" moaned Mewtwo, as he stood up from the hit he had just taken. There was some kind of a metal suit covering nearly every inch of his body. It was heavy. It was draining. "What is this?" he asked.

Giovanni chuckled. "That is a product of massive amounts of scientific research, Mewtwo. The only thing that can restrain you."

"What?" he muttered.

"I call it M-2 Bind." the man continued, "A metallic suit, resistant to psychic forces, invulnerable to most pokemon attacks, and draining your energy until you completely collapse."

Mewtwo could feel that. Even as he stood among these rockets, he felt as though he was growing weaker. He was already having minor trouble with his telepathy, and he couldn't teleport away if he tried. However, he still had a lot of fight left in him.

"Hehehe…" the pokemon chuckled, "This armor was not made to hold me."

"No. Granted." Replied Giovanni. "It was made to hold something much weaker than you. Originally I had intended it only for use on the Mewtwo of _my_ universe. The one that _I _helped create. But thanks to Dr. Sebastian, here," He motioned to the bearded scientist behind him, still holding the open trunk. "I've been able to modify a few things. I must admit that this universe has our science department outmatched remarkably easily."

"They aren't the only ones out matched." The Pokemon taunted.

Giovanni was about to ask what he meant, but Mewtwo shouted to the sky and let loose an enormous psychic pulse that rippled through the air in a shockwave. Every rocket, including Giovanni, was knocked to the floor.

"RAAAAHHH!" screamed the psychic type, as he shot a shadow ball at the floor of the mothership. The entire structure shook with force.

The native Giovanni could feel the blast from the vessel's bridge. "Is everything okay?" he radioed in fear.

"Get out your pokemon! Get out your pokemon!" ordered his startled counterpart, as all the rockets on deck began to scramble back to their feet.

Mewtwo was ready to fight. Even with M-2 Bind eating away at his energy, he was on his feet, prepared for battle. Pokeballs began to crash to the floor and guns began to open fire. Mewtwo was just hoping that he could win the battle before his power was drained entirely.

Professor Sebastian found his way over to Giovanni in the chaos. "I apologize, sir. I thought I made the suit to the exact specifications."

"You did." Giovanni assured him with a small grin. "He's just even more powerful than I predicted… perfect."

* * *

Ash, of course, had seen that entire exchange go down from the battleship that he was standing on, and he did not like the looks of it. He could see Mewtwo brawling through the rockets' pokemon like they were nothing, but he knew he was getting weaker. Every time that Mewtwo would finish with a wave of pokemon or bullets, more rockets would come up from the ship to continue the fight. Mewtwo couldn't hold out forever.

"I'm gonna need to do something…" the young trainer muttered to himself. He plucked two pokeballs from his belt buckle and looked at them in thought. "Hmmm…"

* * *

"More! More! I need more men up here!" Giovanni screamed into his radio, as his troops continued to throw everything they had at Mewtwo.

"How's he doing?" asked his counterpart from within the ship.

"His powers aren't being reduced as quickly as I thought they would, but he doesn't seem to be able to flee. I think the plan should still be fine as long as we can stall him for awhile."

Mewtwo could hear that conversation from where he was, but, unfortunately, he could not do anything about it. His abilities to fly and teleport were gone entirely, and his attacks were doing increasingly less damage. He was legitimately surrounded by rockets and pokemon. They just kept coming.

"Yes, we should be fine." Giovanni repeated again with a smile.

"You know…" came a voice from behind the crime boss, "the last time that you tried to capture Mewtwo and force him to do your bidding… I don't recall it ending too well."

Giovanni turned around to see none other than Ash Ketchum, standing atop a battleship across from him with his arms folded and an overconfident smirk on his face.

"Ash?" asked Mewtwo. "I told you to hide!"

"Ah, yes." Giovanni grinned at the boy, "This world's excuse for a Red. I've been expecting you."

Ash raised an eyebrow. "Really? Well, bet ya weren't expecting this."

And with that, he snapped his fingers, and Charizard barreled through the air from the other side of the mothership. He plowed through the rockets and their pokemon at fantastic speed, picking up Mewtwo along the way and diving out the opposite side of the aircraft.

"WHAT?!" Giovanni shouted, as he ran to the edge of the ship and peaked over the side to see the pokemon fly away from his dive bomb.

He paused for a second, still staring off at the dragon. He was stunned by what had just happened, but it wore off quickly. He turned back to face Ash in fury.

"YOU!" he shouted just in time to see the trainer being lifted into the air by his gliscor.

"PPPPFFFFFFTTTTT!" Ash spat with his tongue, as he made faces at Giovanni from the sky.

"Get him!" cried the crime boss.

All the rockets began to let out their flying types and start up their jetpacks. Some rode after Charizard, and others jetted after Ash.

"No! No! No!" Giovanni shouted, "Not Ash! Only go after the Charizard! He has Mewtwo! That is our number one priority, you imbeciles!"

The rockets that had followed after Ash stopped in their tracks and turned around, embarrassed.

"I'll take care of the boy." he insisted with a growl.

* * *

"Great job, Gliscor." Ash praised his pokemon. "I just need you to bring me about a mile to the edge of the city, and we can meet up with Charizard there."

"Gliscor!" squealed his companion.

"Air Cutter!" Giovanni cried from behind the two.

"Gli!" screeched the pokemon again, as he swiftly pulled to the left, nearly throwing Ash off. Two slashes of glowing air passed in front of them.

"What the?" Ash turned his head around to see Giovanni chasing the two by a crobat. "You've gotta be kidding me."

The crime boss pulled out his radio and began barking information into it. "Commander A, this is Commander 1. Do you read?"

"I hear you loud and clear." Replied the other Giovanni, "Is something gong on out there?"

"Oh, you bet! Ash Ketchum has been spotted off the stern of the mothership! He has released Mewtwo from our men, and he is continuing East to the edge of the city!"

"Get out." The native boss moaned in frustration, "Do you want me to fire on him?"

"No. Not yet." He responded, "I want to figure out how he found us. He's far away from home, and the dex holders can't be far behind! Just create a perimeter around the city, so that no one can get out… or in."

"Roger." Giovanni said from the other side. The radio clicked off, and he looked around at his crew. "Well, you heard him! Send out a message to all the vessels in the area! Get an armed perimeter around this place! He must be really scared of these dex holders!"

His orders were met with simple nods and "rogers" from the surrounding rockets as they began typing away at their stations and barking orders over the microphones.

* * *

Ash and Gliscor were still zigzagging through the air in an attempt to lose Giovanni and dodge all of the various attacks he was throwing at them.

"Come on!" shouted Ash, "Surely you've learned by now that your pokemon are weaker than the pokemon in my world! Even if you do manage to hit us, what makes you think it'll do anything?"

Giovanni gave a small chuckle. "Perhaps my aim is so bad that you haven't noticed, Ketchum, but I am aiming for your hands!"

Ash sweatdropped. "Oh…"

"I don't have to beat your pokemon! I just have to beat you!" and with that, Crobat fired another Air Cutter at the do-gooders, and Gliscor swerved out of the way, again causing Ash to hold on for dear life.

"Ugh… Can't you do anything to fire back at him, Gliscor?" Ash asked in concern.

"Gliscor…" the pokemon whined.

"Yeah, I get it." he nodded, "You have to focus on flying forward if we want to meet up with Charizard in time." He looked back toward Giovanni with a scowl.

"Oh, I do believe he's trying to use Leer attack on me." Giovanni joked to his crobat. "I'm shaking."

Ash growled in anger. He hated feeling useless, especially when it could feasibly lead to his death.

"Let's try a Swift attack this time." Giovanni suggested.

"Crobat!" cried his flying type, as it shot a blizzard of glowing stars at its prey.

'_Uh-oh!'_ thought Ash. That was an accurate move.

"Gliscor! Heads up! Swift attack!" The boy warned, as he gripped onto his companion's legs as hard as he could.

"GLI-SCOR!" Screamed the pokemon with determination. It shot straight up into the air so fast that Giovanni could hardly see it. Then it looped back around to where it had started, and ended up behind the stars.

"WAAAAAHHH!" Ash hollered in fear, as one of his hands came loose during the sharp turn.

"Gliscor!" cried his friend.

"Don't worry." Ash assured. "I've still got it."

Giovanni whistled. "Impressive. Let's see if it can do that again."

Ash was stopping it there. He couldn't handle that again. "Come on! You're really that uncreative?" he taunted.

Giovanni held off for a moment. That was just what Ash wanted. He was stalling now. He was good at that.

"Gliscor was able to dodge your Swift once, and it can do it a million more times!" he assured, "And, ya know what else? I'll hold on a million times too!"

Ash pulled his lower left eyelid down a little bit and stuck his tongue out at Giovanni again.

The boss smirked. "Care to put a wager on that?"

"Why are you trying to kill me, anyway?" the boy asked, "I mean, I heard you talking with 'Commander A' over the radio! You said you wanted me alive so you could see how I tracked you here!"

"Exactly." Giovanni laughed, "I think you'll be surprised. My crobat is a pretty good catch, and I never said that you had to still have your hands when I get you!"

Ash's eyes widened for a moment, and he subconsciously rubbed his wrists against Gliscor's feet. Red wasn't kidding when he said that this guy was cruel.

"Well, why are you the one after me?" Ash asked, still stalling for time, "You had tons of rockets back there, but they all went after Charizard, like I expected. Why would you be the one guy to come after me?"

Giovanni smiled again, distracted by his own arrogance. "Obviously, it's because I don't have a darkball launcher, you fool. My usefulness against Mewtwo is minimal at best. I'm just here to give orders."

"Darkball launcher? Is that what all of those weirder looking guns are?"

Giovanni gasped. He probably shouldn't have let that part out. "So… you're familiar with this item?"

"If by familiar you mean, I nearly died trying to stop a maniac agent of yours from taking over the world with a Celebi he caught in one, then yeah, I'm familiar!"

The boss facepalmed. He had given away too much. He looked up at his crobat again. "Knock him down now, please."

"Crobat!" the pokemon shouted with a nod, as it fired off another Swift attack.

Ash gripped onto Gliscor tightly, the sweat leaking through his gloves. He closed his eyes. "Again, Gliscor!"

"GLI-SCOR!" it screeched, as it shot through the air once more and looped around behind the stars. Ash was jerked back and forth. He thought he was going to throw up.

Alas, the two made it around the attack again, without Ash even losing one of his grips this time. "Ha!" he taunted back, "I toldja so!" They were getting close to the edge of town. Ash could tell by the landmarks. He looked down below, between the various Rocket planes and ships. They should be meeting up with Charizard soon.

"Darn. He wasn't kidding." Giovanni cursed under his breath. Then he paused for a moment. He got an idea. "Crobat use Supersonic! On the gliscor this time!"

"CROOOOO-BAT!" it shouted, firing off a high-pitched sound wave, sure to confuse whatever pokemon it hit.

Giovanni covered his ears.

Ash heard it from behind and covered his ears.

Gliscor twirled in a circle.

"AAAAAAHHHHH!" Ash began to scream, as he was yanked around in every way. "Gliscor, you've got to snap out of it!"

Gliscor dived toward the ground and jerked back up again.

Giovanni now had some time, and he was closing in on the two. "Yes! Yes!" he cried with enthusiasm.

Ash noticed them getting closer. He noticed his hands slipping.

"Gliscor! You've got to do something!" he screamed desperately, but it was all in vain.

Ash grunted in thought, but then, he had a sudden spark in his memory. A pokemon was cured of its confusion when it was returned to its pokeball. He reached for his belt, returned Gliscor, and began to fall to the floor.

"WHAT?!" shouted Giovanni, as he finally caught up to the trainer and saw him plummet to his doom.

Ash had one hand on his hat and his other hand on Gliscor's pokeball, as he fell out of the sky. "Let's try this again!" he said, "Gliscor, I choose you!"

Instead of throwing the pokeball, he simply pressed the middle button, and the familiar red beam emitted his flying type again.

"Gliscor!" it cried with glee, as it swooped into the air and grabbed Ash with its stinger. It was completely cured!

"Great job buddy!" Ash complimented, "I still haven't seen Charizard yet. He must be running behind. So, shoot straight up into the air for me, okay?"

"Gli! Gli!" it nodded.

Giovanni saw this all happen a few hundred feet above them. "Brilliant..." he remarked.

Gliscor started to shoot straight up at the crime boss.

"Flying right above me like that?" Ash teased, "Not a good plan!"

"Noooo!" the man cried, as Gliscor ran right into him and his crobat. The evil duo spiraled through the air a bit before Crobat regained its balance.

"ARGH!" Giovanni growled in frustration, "AFTER THEM!"

"Crobat!"

Gliscor had returned to its previous route, and Ash was searching below for any sign of Charizard and Mewtwo. "Come on," he muttered, "Where are they? Where are they?"

"SWIFT!" Giovanni shouted yet again, and Crobat sent a flurry of stars their way.

"Aw! Not you again!" Ash moaned, "You're back, already?"

"GLI-SCOR!" shouted his pokemon again, as it did its fancy trick through the air. Ash somehow managed to hang on a third time. He was proud of that.

"We can't do this all night!" Ash told Giovanni.

"Then I suggest you surrender now!" the boss insisted.

Just then, Ash saw a small orange figure gaining speed near the ground, beneath all the ships. It was surrounded by a storm of bullets, lasers, and various pokemon attacks.

"Charizard." Ash grinned. He grabbed a pokeball at his belt. "Hey, Giovanni!"

The crime boss looked at him with a curious expression.

"Think fast!" he yelled, as he pressed the middle button of the mechanism. A red light emerged from the center, landing a buizel right on Crobat's back.

"Crobat?" the pokemon shouted in confusion.

"Buizel!" the water type smiled.

Giovanni was confused too. "Hey! What are you-"

"Buizel! Water gun straight up in the air! Now!"

"BUI-ZEL!" he yelled to the sky, as he shot a huge stream of water into the air.

The increased force pushed Crobat and Giovanni downward, away from they're prey.

"Crobat! Cro!"

"Hey! What are you doing? Stop that!" Giovanni yelled.

Ash continued to fly away with a smirk. "Nice. Gliscor, start a decent so we can meet up with Charizard."

"Gliscor!"

* * *

Giovanni was only about fifty or so feet in the air by the time Buizel stopped using water gun. He was not happy about it, but there was nothing he could do.

"Smarter than he looks." The boss groaned.

"Buizel, Bui!" chirped Buizel before he saluted Giovanni and Crobat and leapt high into the air.

Then Giovanni heard several loud noises approaching from behind. He turned his head around for a moment to see Charizard speeding toward him with Mewtwo in his arms and a massive group of rockets behind him.

"_Much_ smarter than he looks." He corrected.

Charizard plowed through him and his Crobat. The two went flying into the air, and Buizel descended onto Charizard's back.

* * *

The native Giovanni was still sitting inside the mothership, giving orders on attack formation, and trying to set up the perimeter that his counterpart had mentioned earlier.

"Get more rockets out there!" he barked, "You cannot tell me that we can't catch a single Charizard! Find out where it's going! Find out how it's flying! Kill the thing if you have to! Mewtwo will be fine!"

"Mayday! Mayday!" Came the other Giovanni over the radio, "This is Commander 1 requesting air support! I am literally flying through the sky right now, and my Crobat has fainted! Someone get over here now!"

"Ugh…" Giovanni spoke into the radio, "Somebody with a jetpack or something go save him! Now we're doing this my way!"

* * *

Ash was still holding onto Gliscor as they continued to fly to the edge of the city, going lower and lower. Charizard was just beneath them with Buizel on his back, firing streams of water at all of the pursuing rockets, which had dropped their numbers significantly.

"Alright! Now!" shouted Ash, as he let go of Gliscor and fell in front of Buizel on Charizard's back.

"Buizel!" said his pokemon.

"Yeah! We did it!" Ash agreed.

"Ash… you came back for me." Said Mewtwo.

"Of course I did." The trainer smiled, "I originally came here hoping to take out Giovanni, but you're my friend. I would never sacrifice you."

"Thank you." He replied, "I fear I am growing weak."

"Don't worry. We've almost got you out of here. Then we'll figure out some way to get that suit off."

Ash then produced two pokeballs and returned Gliscor and Buizel to their proper place. He latched them back onto his belt and looked out into the distance, determination in his eyes. He could see the edge of town.

"We're almost home free!" he cheered.

"Char! Char!" Charizard motioned with his head to the right, and Ash saw the mothership coming back around to the edge as fast as it could.

"They're trying to block us!" the boy realized.

"Ready the canons!" Giovanni commanded from his chair, "Man your battle stations! Lock on the boy! Get ready to wipe this bug off our windshields! Now they've got something else to dodge!"

The mothership was going to beat them there. They were coming from the South and Ash was coming from the West.

"We're not going to make it!" Mewtwo warned, "You need to turn around!"

"Not a chance!" Ash remarked, "Charizard, I need you to start ascending now! We're going over that thing!"

"Are you mad?!" asked Mewtwo.

Charizard let out a mighty roar and began as steep a climb as he could manage, while still going as fast to the edge of town as he could.

"Oh no. You can't get away." Giovanni whispered in confidence, as he stared at the puny blip on his ship's screen. "FIRE!"

And with that command, a laser turret emerged from the hull of the ship and fired a single solid blast at the dragon, as he and his master flew above the vessel. It was a direct hit. Charizard was blasted through the air. Mewtwo and Ash flew off of his back in two separate directions.

"Perfect." Smiled Giovanni.

* * *

Meanwhile, Ash was falling through the air just outside of Goldenrod's city limits. He was still riding out the momentum from the blast, but he was sure to hit the ground hard.

"WWAAAAAAHHHHH!" cried the trainer, as he plummeted to his doom for the second time today. In a panic, he reached for Gliscor's pokeball, but the orb slipped out of his hand due to air resistance.

"NO!" he screamed, as the ball just evaded his grasp. He buried his eyes in his arms. "It looks like this is it!"

Then, right before he hit the ground, a large flying pokemon clutched onto his back out of nowhere.

"Huh?" he grunted, as he uncovered his eyes to find himself in the grasp of Red's prized aerodactyl, Aero, with the trainer, himself, riding on top.

"You know, somehow, 'I toldja so' doesn't cut it this time." Red remarked with a smile.

"Red… You saved me." Ash said in a startled voice.

"Also, you dropped something." Red added, as he tossed Gliscor's pokeball down into Ash's hands.

Ash caught the pokeball and looked at it for a second. "I thought you didn't like me…"

Red shrugged. "Come on, you're me. I can't just let you die."

"Red! Ash!" came a cry from behind, "Are you two okay?"

It was Green, riding atop Ditty (in Charizard form) with Brock behind her. Blue followed close on his own charizard with Misty and Pikachu in tow.

"Yeah! We're okay!" shouted Red, "Ash thought it would be fun to try skydiving without a parachute!"

"Ugh! Don't get me started!" responded Misty, "I swear that kid treats cliffs like they're diving boards!"

Red looked down at Ash, then back at Goldenrod, a city with its lights completely gone and three dozen rocket air ships circling inside of it.

"What's in there?" he asked.

Ash chuckled a bit. "I found Giovanni."

"Anything else?"

Ash's eyes opened wide. In the sudden rescue he had for some reason completely forgotten about the last few minutes.

"Oh my gosh!" He let out in one startled breath, "Charizard! Mewtwo!"

"Mewtwo?!" Red shot back.

"Red! We have to go in there now!" Ash insisted, "They've taken the city hostage in an attempt to capture Mewtwo! They put some metal sci-fi thing on him so he couldn't use his psychic powers! They shot Charizard out of the sky!"

"They did what?!"

"Just get me back in there now!"

"It looks like they're forming a kind of border!" Red countered.

"Then get us in there before it's finished!" Ash came back.

Red tipped his hat forward, and put a determined look on. "Right." He said firmly. He gripped onto Aero with both hands, "Ash, do you get air sick?"

"Well, now that ya mention it, I have been thrown around by Gliscor all night. Maybe it's a better idea to-"

"Good." Confirmed Red, as he gave a light kick to Aero's back, and the rock type shot forward into the sky as fast as he could.

"AAAAHHHHHHH!" screamed Ash.

"Hey!" cried Blue from behind.

"Where are they going?" asked Brock.

"Where Red always goes," confirmed Blue, "right in the middle of the danger."

"Ugh… We're gonna have to follow him, aren't we?" asked Green.

"Yep." Blue nodded.

* * *

"Are… you sure this is the place?" asked Yellow.

"It seems a little crowded…" added Crystal.

The four dex holders had finally reached land, and the group stood before the doors of Trainer Tower on Quest Island of the Kanto region. Of all the Sevii Islands, this area was probably visited the most, as Trainer Tower was a great tourist attraction, allowing pokemon trainers from all over the world to compete in daily mini-tournaments.

"She said Trainer Tower." Gold shrugged, "If you know of any other Trainer Tower on Quest Island, we can go there."

"Well, if you're sure…" muttered Yellow, as she opened up the large door and entered into a lobby full of people.

Trainers were walking around everywhere in the facility. Pokemon were out and about, people were on laptops, pokeballs were being traded. The place was certainly busy.

"How are we supposed to find them in all this mess?" asked Silver.

"Ah! There you four are!" came a voice from behind the quartet.

The trainers turned around to see two tall, clean-cut men with black suits and sunglasses on.

"We were wondering when you would get here." Said the man on the left, "Please follow us to the back."

Without another word, the two simply went up to the front counter, had the employee behind it let them in, and walked into the back room.

The dex holders looked at each other in confusion. Gold shrugged and followed the two men. The others followed soon afterward. They were led into a far, FAR back room on the right. The purpose of the area was unclear, as the back wasn't used for battling and there was an "Authorized Personnel Only" sign on the door. However, inside there were four men behind a counter on the far end and three trainers sitting at a table near the middle of the room. The two large men who led the dex holders into the area walked over to the three trainers at the table and announced their presence.

"Lady Berlitz, the trainers are here to see you." Announced one of the bodygaurds.

The young woman scooted her chair up closer to the table, and the two boy trainers to her left did the same. "Thank you Paka and Uji." She said.

She then let a light smile appear on her face as she looked toward the dex holders. "So happy you could make it."

The girl's name was Platinum Berlitz, and the quartet of trainers had known her for a little while now. She wore a beanie atop her blue hair with a half-pokeball symbol on it. Two black boots covered her feet, and she wore a matching black dress over the rest of her body (although, she was normally wearing much heavier clothing suitable for her home region).

The boys to her left were named Diamond and Pearl. They were two comedic best friends who had traveled with Platinum for quite some time. Diamond sported a red beret with another half-pokeball symbol on it atop his dark hair, a black vest, a white undershirt, and cargo jeans. He was also eating a muffin at the moment, but that's neither here nor there. Pearl's naturally blonde hair was completely uncovered and even sticking up a bit at the end. He wore a scarf around his neck and a striped shirt just below that.

"Happy _we _could make it?" Crystal asked with a grin, "Aren't you three the ones that are normally in Sinnoh?"

"We thought we'd mix things up this time." Diamond said with a laugh, "You seven can go to Sinnoh, and we'll hang out in Kanto for a change!"

"Speaking of which," Pearl continued, "where have you guys been? We've been waiting here for forever!"

"Don't mind him." Insisted Platinum, "It hasn't been that bad."

"You know Pearl." Diamond commented.

"Hey! I-" began the boy, "…You know, you've kind of got a point."

"It's been too long." Said Gold with a smile.

"Well, we didn't even meet that long ago." Chuckled Platinum.

"I hate to interrupt," came Yellow, "But why are we _here_, exactly."

"Good. To the point." Silver chipped in.

"Right, right." Said Platinum, putting her hand in front of her, "I almost forgot. Over the phone, you four said you needed a way to get to another dimension, right?"

"Yeah," said Yellow, "And we just figured you three are among the few who have actually been to another dimension."

Gold leaned onto the table, facing the three trainers, "Speaking of which, could you tell us that story again? What was it like exactly? You said you could walk on the ceiling, right?"

Crystal interrupted her friend with a quick stomp on his foot.

"OOOOOWWWW!" Gold shouted at the top of his lungs, as he leaned away from the table.

"Gold, we'll talk about that later. We're trying to find our friends, remember?" she said in a firm tone.

"Okay, okay!" he muttered.

Diamond and Pearl were both holding back laughter with all their might. Gold could tell. He was not amused.

"Riiight…" Platinum continued, "Well, just because we've _been_ to another dimension, doesn't mean that we know how to _get_ to another dimension."

"Oh…" Yellow slouched into a sigh.

"But we know someone who might." She finished.

Yellow perked back up. "Really? Who?"

The three Sinnoh dex holders looked at each other with concerned glances.

"That's why we brought you here." Diamond finally let on.

They now had the four's full attention.

Pearl continued where his friend left off, "Remember that evil scientist we told you guys about the last time we met?"

"From Team Galactic?" asked Crystal, "Wasn't his name Chagro? … or Cherry? …or Chano?

"Charon." Silver finally said.

Everyone looked at him.

"The evil scientist that worked for Team Galactic, opened up a portal to the Distortion World, tried to capture all the legendaries, and nearly took over the world. His name was Charon." Silver finished.

"Well, at least _someone _is listening to our stories." Diamond teased.

Nobody spoke for a moment.

Gold leaned onto the table again. "You're telling us we'd have to get help from _him_?"

Platinum looked frustrated, but didn't back down. "If anyone in the world knows how to jump dimensions, it's him. He's an expert."

Silence again. The tension in the room was thick enough to cut.

"Hey! Who wants to see me and Pearl's new comedy routine?" Diamond piped up to break the nervousness.

"Not now!" Pearl let out, slapping him in the back of the head.

"See?" Diamond said, after jutting forward a bit, "He does a great job!"

"Dia!" Pearl shouted.

"Look!" Yellow finally interrupted, slamming her hands against the table. "This is Red we're talking about!"

"Ahem!" came Silver's voice.

Yellow blushed a little bit, "And… and the others! But the point is, I'm willing to do whatever it takes to save them if they are in some kind of danger! I wouldn't have come all the way over here if I weren't willing! So, where do we find this guy?"

Platinum leaned in to Yellow. "That's why you're here." She said, "Do you know where criminals go when they are arrested by the International Police?"

"No…" she admitted.

"Well, I do." Platinum continued, "Looker told me in confidence. I have clearance to that area, and anyone who I want also has clearance. But he told me only to use it in a major emergency."

"Well, time to use it." Remarked Gold with a grin.

Platinum's eyes shifted around the room a bit. All the sudden, the four men behind the counter were paying a lot more attention to the conversation. Platinum nodded, and the men stepped around the counter and walked next to Paka and Uji. The dex holders all came in close.

"Some criminals are sent to regular prisons." She began again, "They just aren't shown on the roster. Some are sent to islands, some to underwater bases, and some are sent just a few miles beneath this floorboard."

* * *

**Well, hope you liked it, everybody! Ash got some more action in today's round then he normally does. I feel like I normally upstage him a bit with Red, and I always want both of my main characters to share the spotlight pretty evenly. So, I hope the fic seems pretty evened out so far. If you have any opinions on that, let me know. I'm being serious. It could really adjust how I structure the next few rounds. Do you think the characters are sharing the story well? Also, THE SINNOH DEX HOLDERS ARE FINALLY HERE! Whoop! Yeah, people kept asking me when/ if they would show up. My answer was always "eventually." So, here they finally are. They are a little later than my original draft intended, but nevertheless. Oh, and btw, yes, I know that they have not met the other dex holders in the normal canon yet, but remember that this story takes place in the future of "Pokemon Adventures." May, Drew, and Max have also now officially entered the story for "Advanced Generation" fans. Things are shaping up nicely. Review. Please. I value your opinion. I will send a free toaster to every reviewer!* Later!**

***Warning: "Free toaster" does not include toast, bread, packaging equipment, or an actual toaster. It's satirical... or at least let's hope so, otherwise, I am certifiably insane for offering such a thing on a website that does not give out your name or full address.  
**


	13. Round 13: The Storm Rages

**Author's Note: So, after three weeks of excruciating amounts of homework, I'm back. I hope no one thought I was gone forever or anything like that, but you can probably expect this kind of 3 weeks-1 month absence from time to time when school is in session. Sorry, but my grades have just gotta take priority over this stuff. However, I worked on this round a lot last night and some this morning so I could get it to you today. It isn't as long as was originally intended, but I think it is good enough. Basically an action round, injecting several important plot points and characters. In other news, a reader of mine, Eeveleon, recently kindly pointed out to me that I have not ever explained what spoilers this fic contains. So, I think I will update the description of my story to fix that soon. In case you didn't get the gist already, this fanfic contains spoilers for all of the "Pokemon Adventures (PokeSpe)" rounds and volumes, all of the anime episodes, and most of the movies. Anyway, enjoy your long awaited round 13. I hope it is all you were waiting for.  
**

**Une version française de cette histoire est disponible ici: ****Absolette**. She has not posted any rounds yet, but she will soon.

**Ship Warning: None.  
**

******I do not own or have any rights to any part of the Pokemon franchise whatsoever. **

* * *

"Charizard! Charizard, speak to me! …CHARIZARD!"

Mewtwo continued yelling at the fallen pokemon through his mind. He didn't receive the slightest response. A psychic at heart, when Mewtwo pled for someone to "speak to him," he was not necessarily looking for a verbal answer. He knelt down by the limp and burnt beast, trying to sense anything: a thought, a sound, a heartbeat, a life force.

He received no response.

That shot really did a number on Charizard. He was the only one hit directly, and the huge plunge to the ground certainly didn't help matters. He now lay inside a small crater with a charred blast burn on his side.

Mewtwo looked away from his fallen comrade for a moment, and he instead turned his attention to the metal suit that was still hopelessly bound to his body. A few cracks appeared around the edges of the armor. Some minor static shot out from the chest of the suit. That fall had managed to damage it a little. It wasn't invincible. At least that was a relief.

He looked up in the sky at the clouds of Rocket ships hovering above him.

"They'll be coming soon." He contemplated.

He closed his eyes, cleared his mind, and focused all of his energy into his hands. It was almost painful to do at this point.

"Better do this quick." He decided, as his hands began to glow purple.

He placed both hands on Charizard and began to fill around his wounds. He soothed the burn, fixed a few bones, and restarted his heart again with a quick psychic jolt. The fire type was still unconscious, but Mewtwo thought it best to deal with the more pressing matters first.

"Ah, well, look at what we have here." A voice chuckled from behind.

Mewtwo broke focus. He turned around and peered up to see a group of rockets hovering nearby on jetpacks with Giovanni in the front on what appeared to be some kind of flying scooter.

"I'm afraid it was my counterpart who spoke with you last," Giovanni continued, a sadistic grin growing, "but now that he's busy being airlifted out of a 500 foot drop, why don't we just pick back up where he left off?"

Mewtwo stretched his arms out in front of Charizard. "Do not come any closer to this pokemon!" he warned in a harsh tone, "I'm busy!"

The rockets were dead silent behind their boss.

"Riiiiight…" Giovanni responded, "And maybe after your done with him, I'll go scrape his trainer off the floor and let you heal him too."

Mewtwo's eyes glew, and his tone grew harsher. "Hear my warning! If so much as a molecule of your body enters within my psychic reaching distance, I will split an atom and cause an explosion that engulfs this entire city!

The boss sweatdropped. That shut him up.

Mewtwo turned back around and continued to heal Charizard's wounds.

The rockets all just floated in the air. There was silence.

"Well, boss?" one of the men finally asked, "What do we do?"

"He… He-he's bluffing." Giovanni answered, "He's gotta be. His psychic powers can't be near that precise at this point, right? That bind-armor has been draining his energy."

"Yeah!" answered a rocket girl in the back, "And earlier he was almost willing to give himself up if we didn't harm the citizens. Now he expects us to believe that he's gonna blow up the whole city?"

There were murmurs of approval and agreement amongst the group.

"Right." Giovanni nodded again with confidence, "He's bluffing."

"Too bad you're never gonna find out!" shouted Red's voice.

"Huh?" the rockets all asked simultaneously, as they turned toward the trainer speeding at them on an aerodactyl with Ash gripped in its talons.

"No way!" "The kid survived?!" "Is that an aerodactyl?"

"Come on out, everyone!" Ash shouted, as he threw all of his pokeballs at the group of rockets.

"You guys too!" followed Red, as he did the same thing.

The rockets began to scream in pain and fear, as pokeballs began to rain down upon them and unwelcomed passengers, such as Poli, Sceptile, and Vee (Red's espeon), latched onto the back of their jetpacks, dragging them down to the ground.

Mewtwo smiled. He heard them descend behind him, but he did not take his focus off of Charizard.

Red and Ash stood side by side in front of Mewtwo as soon as they landed, and Aero stepped in front of them, letting out a mighty roar.

"You aren't getting past here!" Red announced, as he shot an accusatory finger at the still hovering Giovanni.

The crime boss gritted his teeth and turned to the few rockets that where either still in the air or not dodging attacks.

"Get them!" he cried.

The pokeballs flew everywhere.

"You focus your pokemon on the jetpacks and rockets." Ash suggested, "Mine can take care of the other pokemon."

"Right." Red nodded. It made good sense. Ash's pokemon were more suited to take out the enemy pokemon, seeing as how they were from the same dimension, and Red's pokemon could focus on the other targets, seeing as how they should be weak to pokemon attacks, regardless.

So, Saur shot up several vine whips to rip through rocket jet packs and throw the enemies off course. Vee stopped several pokeballs in mid-air with his psychic attack and threw them back into the faces of their owners. Pika was overloading tons of machines with his various electric attacks, and Snor was chasing anyone who dare land on the ground. All the while Aero acted as the team's goalie, blocking and attacking anyone who tried to fire directly at the two trainers that were barking orders from behind his outspread wings.

With the support and confusion caused by Red's group, Ash's team was able to focus on one to two enemies at a time, which was definitely a plus, considering how outnumbered they were. With Charizard out and Pikachu with Misty, only Buizel, Gliscor, Snorlax, and Sceptile remained to fight, but boy did they fight. Every pokemon struck hard and fast, a staple of Ash's usual battling style. Sceptile's speed allowed it to literally jump from one opponent to another, confusing and injuring many of them at a time. Buizel was sharing this job with the grass type, as he would frequently aqua jet from one target to another without ever slowing down. Anything untouched by those two was dive bombed by Gliscor. The primary strategy seemed to be launching opponents into the air, where they would be helpless to attacks by the three.

Snorlax was still sleeping…

"You know," Red remarked above the noise, "you should really invest in a pokeflute!"

"I'll look into it!" Ash responded. In all truth Snorlax was one of his most powerful pokemon, when awake.

* * *

Giovanni did not like the looks of the chaos that was spilling out below him, and he knew that he could not risk getting any closer than he already was. He needed to call in some reinforcements.

However, just as he picked up his radio to make the call, he heard a very familiar voice cackle over the other end.

"This is Commander 1. I am resituated inside the mothership. Can I get an overview of the current situation?"

His counterpart.

"Commander 1, this is Commander A. I think your friend, Red, just arrived."

"…Get out." He responded.

Giovanni continued to look at the horror of his team being outmatched by these two children. "Negative." he continued, "The subject bears a nearly identical appearance to Ash and is in possession of six well-trained pokemon. He appears to be skilled in teamwork and battle strategy."

"Heck!" the counterpart said to himself, "That means the rest of those pests can't be far behind!"

"Move everyone out!" he shouted back into the radio, "Deploy every troop! Spies, executives, experts, grunts, I don't care! Get them out there! And finish that perimeter I asked you to form! Kill the brats! Kill the pokemon! I don't care what you have to do, but get that Mewtwo NOW!"

"Right…" The native Giovanni confirmed from the other end, a little confused. These dex holders had better be a big deal.

The other Giovanni clicked off his radio and turned to the bearded scientist next to him.

"Dr. Sebastian, I need the remote NOW."

"I'm sorry, sir, but I'm afraid that it has not finished charging yet." He explained.

"I don't care!" Giovanni insisted, "We need to speed up the process if this plan is going to work. Will it hold a charge?"

"Well, yes, sir." He continued, "But I'm afraid that it will only last for about half of its intended battery life at this point."

"Fine. Bring me to it." He said.

Sebastian was hesitant for a moment, but he just nodded his head, "As you wish." He conceded.

* * *

Ash looked up into the sky in the heat of battle. He saw rockets deploying from many different ships to join in the fight. He looked behind himself to see Mewtwo still focusing on Charizard.

"You know we aren't gonna be able to hold this ground forever!" he reminded Red.

Red looked at him with a smile and pointed to the upper right of the sky. "We won't have to!"

Just then two Charizards came barreling into the city from above with Blue, Misty, Pikachu, Green, and Brock on board.

"Pika Pi!" Pikachu greeted from the air.

"Pikachu!" Ash shouted back.

The two flying pokemon neared the ground with their passengers still on board, sure to avoid the massive melee that was going on in front of them.

Pikachu didn't wait to land, and joyfully hopped out of Misty's lap and into Ash's arms.

"Pika!" the little pokemon squealed. He was ecstatic to see that his best friend was okay.

"I missed you too, buddy!" Ash remarked with a smile.

"Does he always acknowledge his pokemon before he even acknowledges his human friends?" asked Blue.

"Always." Misty and Brock replied in blunt unison.

"Alright, great reunion and all," Red cut in, "but, as you four can see, we really need some help here."

Brock's eyes darted out behind the two trainers, and he noticed Mewtwo and Charizard.

"Wh-what happened to Charizard?" he asked.

Misty noticed the armored Mewtwo as well, "And who's that pokemon?" she added.

"It's Mewtwo." Blue answered, Green nodding to his conclusion.

"MEWTWO?!" Brock and Misty both cried in surprise.

"Yeah." said Green, "We've seen that M-2 Bind before. It's an armored suit resistant to psychic powers, made especially for Mewtwo, and it will keep draining its energy until there's nothing left."

"You've seen this before?!" Brock asked in shock.

Blue nodded "It was used on the Mewtwo from our world. It's a real pain to get off."

"Mewtwo is healing Charizard right now, and it's taking longer than usual due to his weakened state. We have got to make sure we protect these two until I can safely return Charizard and get Mewtwo out of here." Ash explained.

"It's hard enough as it is, but we've got some company coming." Red finished, as he pointed into the sky at the dozens of approaching rockets, "Think you could even the odds for us a bit?"

Blue let a small grin show. "Sounds like fun."

"Let's do it!" cried Green, and with that the two parties took flight again to meet with the oncoming rocket forces in the air.

"Pikachu, get in there!" ordered Ash, and the pokemon readily complied, jumping into the frenzy that his usual pokemon companions already had going.

Giovanni still stood a good distance above the whole mess simply observing the madness.

"They're just children." He muttered, "Surely they can't keep going forever."

He looked up at the brawl that was now going on in the sky between the reinforcements and the new kids.

"No…" he muttered, "They just don't have enough fire power. They have to give eventually."

* * *

Jessie, James, and Meowth were in the hull of the mothership still looking out a window.

"I'm not going out there." Said James.

"Are you kidding?" added Jessie, "As soon as he's done with that Charizard, Mewtwo is going to rip those troops apart."

"Didn't we decide we were gonna be da good guys dis time?" asked Meowth.

"Well…" James began in a nervous tone, as he rubbed the back of his neck, "You see…"

"If we sided with the twerps right now, all the other troops would tear _us_ apart." Jessie finished.

Meowth sighed, "Yeah… So, where does dat put us?"

"I think we're on the fence." Jessie concluded.

"Yeah, there's nothing wrong with just enjoying a good fight, is there?" asked James, eyes still out the window.

"Not until da fence gets knocked over." Meowth admitted.

"And judging by the recent number of things being blown up and knocked over…" Jessie began.

The trio was interrupted by the sound of hastening footsteps coming down the hall.

"Who's that?" whispered James.

"Hurry! Hurry!" came Giovanni's voice, "He says that the other pokedex holders have arrived now! I _NEED_ that remote!"

"IT'S THE BOSS!" the three said in a quiet panic.

"He ordered all the troops to go outside!" James reminded his partners.

Jessie pulled open the nearest door. "Quick in here!"

The three rushed into the room, closed the door, and locked it.

"Whew… well, that was a relief." James remarked with a sigh.

The three took just a moment to notice the surroundings in the room. There were complex machines, blinking lights, and papers everywhere, with only a single desk near the front of the room with a turned on lamp and several messy piles of paper lying over every inch its surface.

"Where are we?" asked Meowth.

"I think this is that know-it-all scientist's airborne research room." Jessie reasoned, "What was his name again?"

"I think it was Dr. Sushi?" James tried.

"Ah, yes, here it is." Came the very scientist's voice from the outside.

"Oh no!" The three whispered again, as the doorknob began to jiggle.

"Is there a problem?" came Giovanni's voice again.

"Oh, no, of course not, sir. I just could have sworn I left my door unlocked. Here, let me get my key."

"What do we do now?" James panicked again.

Jessie's eyes darted around the room a second time for a hiding space, and she noticed a small closet behind some of the office's machinery.

"There! There! Hide in there!" she said, and the trio worked their way over the messy floor and into the closet.

Jessie shoved herself into the space first, James squeezed in next to her, and Meowth struggled desperately to get himself in next to James, just barely making it in.

"James your on my foot!" cried Jessie.

"Well, your hair is in the way." He shot back.

"Her hair is _always_ in da way." Meowth added in.

"And, Meowth, your head is poking my thigh." James complained again.

"Hey, do you two see a problem here?" Meowth asked.

"No…what?" replied Jessie.

"THE DOOR AINT SHUT ALL DA WAY!"

The two other rockets looked forward a bit and noticed Meowth was right. The closet door was still open a crack. They were too big to all fit in the closet.

"What do we do?" asked James.

"Maybe if we're lucky, we'll fall into Narnia." Meowth suggested.

"No! Both of you be quiet!" barked Jessie, "It's only a crack! And this room has bad lighting! We'll shut up and sit still! No one will notice us!"

"But, Jessie-" began James, but Jessie covered his mouth with her own hand right as Dr. Sebastian and Giovanni walked into the room.

"Alright, now where is it?" asked Giovanni in a hurried voice.

Dr. Sebastian walked over to one of his smaller machines and pulled a small remote control out of the top of it. The remote was a jet-black color with dark green outlines around the buttons. He handed it to the other-dimensional Giovanni, and the Team Rocket trio stared in awe.

"As I warned you," began the scientist, "it only has about half of the designed battery power at the moment, but it will do the trick."

"How do I work it?" the crime boss asked.

"There are only three buttons," Sebastian explained, "The top one will lock all of the darkballs and prevent them from opening. Any pokemon that are outside of their darkballs will also automatically be returned in this case. The middle one will turn all pokemon captured in the darkballs over to your control automatically by use of your voice and dimensional signature. And the bottom button will turn the pokemon back over to the control of whoever is holding their darkball."

"Is dat a universal remote for all of dose darkballs da troops are carryin'?" Meowth whispered, prompting Jessie and James to quickly step on his head.

Giovanni held the remote up to his eyes and smiled. "And _your_ Giovanni knows nothing of this?"

"Nothing at all." The scientist assured.

"Thank you, Doctor." the boss said, "When I rule the multiverse, your reward will be great."

"I always love a good deal." He responded.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got some children to deal with." Giovanni finished with a frown.

"Likewise." Said the doctor, "I'm sure that I'm needed on the bridge."

Both nodded and left the office in haste, each rushing to a different errand.

As soon as they left, Jessie, James, and Meowth, quite literally, spilled out of the closet in a wreck.

"Well, that was unpleasant." James moaned.

"Are you two tinkin' what I'm tinkin'?" asked Meowth.

"You mean that the new boss is planning on betraying the old boss?" Jessie suggested.

The three just looked at each other for a moment and blinked a few times.

* * *

Things had gone from bad to worse for Red and Ash. While their friends did the best that they could to keep more rockets from joining in the main fight for Mewtwo, the sheer number of opponents was beginning to overwhelm them. First a couple slipped by their air battle. Then, several groups began to slip by. Now, the team had resorted to more or less having Blue push the oncoming rockets to the top of a nearby battleship so Brock, Misty, and Green could take them on there.

Gliscor, Vee, and Poli had fainted, putting a major dent in the basic strategy of the whole battle, and Buizel and Pika were now on the ropes. Nobody felt good about this.

"Mewtwo! I hate to rush you, but we really need to hurry now!" Ash screamed.

"I'm almost done." Said Mewtwo, "It's just taking me longer. I still have to stop some internal bleeding. Then, you can return him."

Red started to have a terrible feeling in his gut. This picture was familiar. A good team, a good strategy, but overwhelmed by the sheer number of rockets trying to get at a legendary pokemon? This was the exact picture of what had happened to him and his friends back at Turnback Cave. He couldn't bare the thought.

Aero fired a hyper beam at a rocket helicopter that was getting too close for comfort. One blade was shot off of the machine, and it began to fall out of the sky. Aero was too distracted to notice the seara that had shot a hydro pump at him. The water hit him directly in the torso with full force, and Aero fell to the ground right next to Red and Ash, nearly knocking the two boys over.

Red returned his pokemon with a beam of light.

"Okay, we _really_ need to go now!" he said.

"Done!" exclaimed Mewtwo, as he backed away from Charizard, obviously drained and weakened.

"Awesome!" Ash said. He reached out his pokeball and returned Charizard to his proper place.

Red walked up behind his counterpart, ready to make an escape plan. "Good." He began, "Now we just have to-"

A huge hyper beam to the ground between them interrupted the trainer. All three heroes were thrown by the blast.

* * *

Inside the overcrowded supermarket, panic had simply increased, especially since Officer Jenny had left. She wasn't doing a great job at crowd control earlier, but at least it was something. Things had resorted to utter chaos since her departure, save for Max, who was fixed looking out of a window in the front of the store.

"I don't understand, Max, everyone in here is acting like animals! What exactly are you looking at?" his older sister asked in a slightly frazzled tone.

"Maybe he's on to something." Drew pitched in, "Maybe if everyone would stop panicking and instead focus on watching what's going on, we could do something productive."

"It's just so curious." Max responded.

"What is?" May asked again.

"Look," he pointed out the window, "You can tell by the alignment of the ships that the rockets are trying to form a perimeter around the city."

"Right." Said May, "Makes sense."

"But," Max's finger shifted a bit, "It's also obvious that they are focusing almost every spare vessel into that spot near the edge of town right there instead of following what would be a normal military procedure and thickening the walls to the city."

"What does that mean?" May asked.

"I don't know." Max admitted.

"It means someone is giving them trouble." Drew answered.

May and Max both looked at him with a curious glance.

"Think about it." He explained, "If they are focusing all of their manpower on one spot and leaving the bare minimum to defend the area that they would normally focus on, then it means that there is a problem in that one spot. Something is going wrong."

Max thought about it for a second. "You know… I think you might be on to something, Drew."

May pumped her fist. "Ya know, I bet we could cause some problems too if we were out there!" she suggested.

"If you want to run out there on your own and risk being shot down by a laser then be my guest." Drew responded.

"Come on, May, we'd need like a hundred people to go out there without having to worry about those turrets." Agreed Max.

May turned toward all of the people running and panicking inside the store. "But… we've got a hundred…" she muttered.

* * *

The hyper beam had thrown _A LOT_ of dust into the air. Neither Ash nor Red could see a thing where they had landed. They both simply shuffled to their feet and began to scream.

"RED!" came Ash's voice.

"I'M OVER HERE!" cried a nearby Red.

"OVER WHERE?" Ash tried again.

Someone grabbed Ash from behind, and he spun around to hit him but realized it was Red at the last moment.

"Right here." Red said with a chuckle.

Ash shrugged. "Probably should have hit you anyway."

A glow began to shine through the dust behind Ash.

"Get down!" shouted Red, as he tackled the boy to the floor, and another hyper beam shot through the air right where Ash was standing.

Ash spat dirt out of his mouth from that one. "You realize you've done that to me twice now, right?"

"Sorry." grunted Red, "Next time I'll just let it hit you."

"What's attacking us?" asked Ash.

"I think it's a seadra. Aero was really the one guarding us earlier, and now that he's down, we're in big trouble."

Another hyper beam shot into the big dust cloud, narrowly missing the two again.

"Forget that." Said Ash, "I think the only reason the ships weren't firing at us was because we were so close to Mewtwo. Now that we're separated, we're in big trouble."

Red stood up and tried to see through the dust. It was no use.

"Either way, our biggest problem right now is this dust." He decided, "We're completely blind. We don't know where we are, we can't control our pokemon, and we're basically sitting psyducks.

Ash was still on the ground, but from his position, he could see a glowing light begin to shine to the left of him. He shuffled over to Red and pulled him to the ground. "Get down!" he shouted.

The hyper beam struck right where Ash was lying earlier.

"Ash! That wasn't anywhere near me!" Red screamed.

Both boys looked forward and saw two bright yellow lights coming toward them, growing bigger and bigger.

"AAAAHHH!" they both screamed, as they dove out of the way.

A hand reached out and grabbed both of them, yanking them forward at an enormous speed.

"Are you two okay?" asked a feminine voice. Both opened their eyes to find Officer Jenny. She had just pulled them both inside of…. Inside of…

Ash and Red looked around a bit, seeing only hard metal on every side and a group of armored men with shields sitting on a bench.

"Where are we?" asked Ash.

Jenny smiled. "We just did a drive-by rescue of you and your brother, here."

"Drive-by… BROTHER?!" Ash and Red cried in unison, as they looked at each other.

They immediately crossed their arms and huffed, "No way!"

"Oh, I'm sorry." Said Jenny, "Are you two not related?"

"Of course not!" said Ash.

"Really? _Him?_" asked Red.

"Anyway," said Jenny, "You're in our emergency armored SQUAD car. We saw you two having trouble with that seadra. So, we drove by and picked you up… literally."

"Oh…" muttered Red, "Well, thanks."

"And I've got to say, I'm shocked at you two!" Jenny continued in an angry tone.

"What?" the boys cried again in unison.

"What could you possibly be thinking, going out in this crisis? I mean you've both got to be like ten years old at best!"

"Actually," said Ash, "I'm-"

"I don't want to hear it!" Jenny continued, "This is a dangerous place to be, even for us officers, and-"

"Look, ma'am." Red interrupted, "It's a very long story as to exactly why we were out here, but we have some more friends and some pokemon that are still stuck in the middle of that battle."

"And seeing as how you have an armored car and we don't, could you please turn around and get them?" Ash finished.

Jenny looked at the two boys dead in the eyes. "Are you serious?"

"Completely." They assured.

* * *

"Ash, I swear if you get killed, I'm going to kill you." Muttered Lance, as he continued to ride his dragonite toward Goldenrod.

"If that made any sense you would have to wait in line." Gary said from behind, still holding on to Lance.

All the sudden, Dragonite came to a dead stop.

"Hey!" Gary cried, "What gives?"

"Look ahead." Lance said.

Gary leaned to the right a little bit to see the massive armada of ships that blocked entrance to the city.

"No way…" Gary was awestruck by the sight. The city itself seemed to be completely out of power or something because there was not a single light on, but the presence of the flying battle ships was just overwhelming. "Well, we're going to go in there aren't we?"

Lance sighed. "I'm afraid not."

"What?! Why not?"

"Gary, they've got the perimeter surrounded. We're too late. It's possible that there is some corner or side of the border that they missed, and I will search for it, but if I had to guess, I would say the city is surrounded and they are armed."

"But your Lance the dragon tamer!" Gary protested, "You're like a living legend! Can't you sneak your way around the ships or something? You snuck into Giovanni's place earlier!"

Lance just shook his head. "I don't know anything about these ships, Gary. I don't know their tracking abilities, their range, their speed, their firepower. Breaking into a house is one thing, but I'm not taking the risk associated with breaking into an armada. Not with the few resources we have."

Gary sighed. "Well, what do we do?"

"I'll try to think of something." Lance admitted, "But, as for right now, the people _inside_ are the ones that can make the most difference."

* * *

Blaziken shot a huge stream of fire into the air.

That shut everyone up. May was actually surprised at how well it worked, but everyone in the supermarket was know looking at her and her blaziken, who were standing on top of the produce section.

"May, what are you doing?" Max whispered.

The girl cleared her throat a little bit. "Thank you." She announced, "Now that I have your attention, I would like to direct you to the outside."

The people turned toward the windows.

"Out there, as you know, a terrorist organization known as Team Rocket has decided to take our city hostage." She continued, "Now, I'm not really very good with speeches, but some of you are separated from family members because of them. Some of you have missing friends because of them. My own pokemon journey has been personally interrupted because of them. But, ya know, when you think about it, all they really have is a lot of big metal ships with guns."

"I really hope she's going somewhere good with this." Drew sighed.

"See, my blaziken, here was able to get your attention just like those ships were," May paused for a second and got out her pokedex, "and my pokedex once told me that the average blaziken can easily clear a thirty story building in one leap. No, it can't fly, but it can probably reach at least one of those battleships just by jumping."

People in the crowd started murmuring.

"Hey!" Max declared, "I get what she's doing!"

"Please tell me she isn't just giving us random 'fun facts.'" Drew pled.

"You know," she continued, "I have a friend whose charizard was beaten by a blaziken once. My pokedex also says that a charizard can spit fire hot enough to melt boulders. I'm not even sure if the guns on those ships can do that."

The crowd was getting very loud now.

"All I'm saying is that I have one pokemon that can probably reach the top of one of those ships and might be able to shoot fire more powerful than any of those ships can. In fact," she reached for her belt, which was stringed with pokeballs, "I have six pokemon that can do some pretty amazing stuff! And if we all have pokemon that can do stuff like that, then staying in here because of those ships is really kinda dumb!"

Drew smiled. "Never mind. I like this plan."

"Yeah! I've got pokemon!" one guy announced.

"This is pretty stupid." Said a woman.

"I've beaten 7 gym leaders!" Another boy shouted.

Within a matter of seconds, the huge crowd of people who were just hiding and panicking, were screaming, rioting, and running out the door to confront their attackers.

May simply smiled at her two traveling companions.

* * *

"Sudowoodo, return!" cried Brock, "Alright, I don't want to alarm anyone, but we might be in some pretty big trouble."

"What was your first clue?" asked Green.

Green, Misty, and Brock were all standing atop a battleship, trying desperately to keep the rocket troops off of them. At first, they had started purposefully pushing rockets to this ship to finish them off before they could approach Red and Ash, but at this point, Red, Ash, and even Mewtwo were nowhere to be found, and the rockets just kept coming. Giovanni was not kidding when he had ordered _all_ of them to attack. The three trainers now huddled up back to back to back and were using the last of their pokemon to fend off the rockets from all sides until Blue could get back from his search for Red, Ash, and Mewtwo.

"Alright, I've got Gyarados and Psyduck left." Misty announced, "but I don't wanna bring Psyduck out until I have to. He has… issues."

"Ugh!" Green shouted, "Why would you even bring a pokemon that… nevermind… I'm holding out with Jiggly, Blasty, and Nido! Brock?"

Brock shrugged and held up one pokeball. "All I have left is Steelix."

"Well, use it!" demanded Green.

Brock tossed the pokeball to the floor, and a giant steel snake emerged from the orb.

"STEEELIX!" it cried.

"Steelix, use iron tail!" Brock commanded, and the pokemon happily obliged, swinging its mighty tail broadside, and knocking four different pokemon to the side at once.

Green paused for a moment to look at the massive attack. "Now that's what I'm talking about!" she cheered.

"See, Brock? It is possible for you to impress a girl." Misty chuckled.

"Very funny." he deadpanned.

While Misty was laughing, she noticed a large crowd of people approaching from the horizon on the ground behind Brock. It stopped her almost immediately.

"Hey, what's that?" she asked, pointing.

Brock and Green turned to look.

"It… it looks like an angry mob." Brock suggested.

Green smiled. "Thank goodness. Reinforcements."

* * *

The native Giovanni was near the ground in his hovering vehicle when he noticed the crowd approaching as well. He narrowed his eyes at the sight. It was simply a big group of screaming people with pokemon popping out here and there. He was not going to stand for more interruptions.

He pulled out his radio, and spoke, "Attention all units, there is a large group of citizens approaching the heat of the battle from the west. Fire your turrets at will."

He smiled as he saw several ships raise their weapons, but as the bullets flew toward the crowd, they were knocked out of the air by fire blasts, water pulses, and thunder shocks from various pokemon. Every one of them. Giovanni's smile faded away.

"Attention, Commander 1! This is Commander A!" his voice rang over the radio again.

His counterpart picked up. "This had better be some good news! Do you know the whereabouts of Mewtwo?"

"Negative." He shouted back in, as he began back toward the mothership, "But I think you should know that we are about to lose our number advantage!"

The counterpart leaned in toward the speaker on that one. "What?! Why?! What's happening?!"

"An angry mob is approaching due west. They all have pokemon, and it doesn't look good. We'll need to send our extra troops out to even think about stalling them!"

The other Giovanni slammed his radio down on the table. "So be it!" he cried.

He slumped down in his chair, completely taken by the change of events. If he didn't think of something fast, the entire plan was going to be a failure already.

"It seems as though was are in quite a predicament, boss." Dr. Sebastian added in from behind him.

"Yes," he responded, his face still barely visible, "We've lost Mewtwo, Red, and Ash. Our ships are useless against most of our enemies at this point, and our only advantage- numbers- was just taken away."

"What do you suggest we do?" the scientist asked.

Giovanni looked at the ships control panel. His eyes darted from screen to screen, searching for an idea. He sat there for several minutes without speaking. He was just searching… thinking. Then his eyes landed on one camera that showed the current battle taking place aboard one particular airship. Misty, Brock, and Green were fending off several rocket troops at a time with Steelix, Gyarados, Nido, Blasty, and Jiggly.

"Maybe we need to change our approach…" he muttered, his eyes still fixed on the battle.

"What do you mean, sir?" Sebastian asked again.

Giovanni smiled. "Call off the search for Red and Ash." He stood up and touched the screen in front of him, putting a single finger on the image of Green. "Bring me that girl."

* * *

**More Author's Notes: So, I hope you liked it. Gotta love my cliffhangers. How will this one end? Who will get Mewtwo? Will Lance and Gary find a way into the city? How will the Team Rocket trio deal with what they just discovered? What does Giovanni want with Green? Feel free to speculate in the review section if you wish. I always appreciate being told how I'm doing. Also, on a completely unrelated note, I think I will soon be releasing a short Halloween themed fic. So, if you really enjoy my work, be looking for that soon to get in the spirit. It will be my first time writing a slightly scarey story, so it should be interesting. I flipped a coin, and it will be about the "Pokemon Adventures" cast. Sorry anime fans. Until then!**


	14. Round 14: The Storm Settles?

**The following segment originally appeared in place of this round as a way to explain the new schedule that I will be sticking to until further notice. It received so much praise from fans that I could not bring myself to delete it. So, you can still find it here: **

Hi! My name is Sapphire! You might know me as one of the main characters in the popular Nintendo based manga, _Pokemon Adventures_, or, as some call it, _Pokemon Special_! My hobbies include training pokemon, battling pokemon, and watching my pseudo-boyfriend, Ruby, participate in pokemon contests. Sometimes I like to sit down and enjoy a good fan fiction, and other times I like to wonder _'WHEN THE HECK IS THE NEXT ROUND OF POKEMON ADVENTURES: ASH GRAY CHAPTER BEING RELEASED?!' _

Well, last week, after waiting a whole month for round 14, I got fed up with it. Not one to just sit around and wait for stuff to happen, I decided to go find this "Could-Not-Think-Of-A-Good-Name" and give him a piece of my mind! I found the little punk goofing around on some college campus studying for midterms. Naturally, I immediately tackled him to the ground and started kicking his butt all over the dorm room.

Somewhere in the middle of our struggle, I told him to drop everything else he was doing, write the next round of _AshGray Chapter_, and stick to a semi-regular release schedule! I think he agreed with me, but I'm not entirely sure, as I was slamming his face into the ground at the time. Anyway, so the new release schedule for _Pokemon Adventures: AshGray Chapter_ will start next Saturday with a new round being released every two weeks from then until further notice. I might let him get off with skipping around Christmas, but that's it!

I WILL have my favorite fan fic back up again, or, so help me, I will take my rage out on Ruby next time! Anyway, enjoy your week, look forward to the new round next Saturday morning, and don't forget to favorite, alert, and review the story. I'll talk to you guys later! Peace. :D

* * *

**Author's Note: So, thank you all for being so patient with my hectic life. It really sucked that as soon as I got time to work on this round I got sick, but that's just how things go sometimes. You have all been very supportive, and I received a minimal amount of complaints. Thanks for that. You all definitely deserved to be on my list of thankful things this Thanksgiving (an American holiday, for those of you that don't know). Anyway, I hope you find this round was well worth waiting for, and I'll see you in another 2 weeks. Peace!**

**Une version française de cette histoire est disponible ici: ****Absolette**.  


**Ship Warning: Specialshipping, Commonershipping?...maybe?, Luckyshipping, OldRivalshipping, Pokeshipping  
**

******I do not own or have any rights to any part of the Pokemon franchise whatsoever. **

* * *

Footsteps echoed throughout the metal chasm, as Gold, Crystal, Yellow, and Silver walked into the dark passageway that the four mysterious men behind the counter had shown them. Platinum was leading the group deep in the tunnel with Diamond and Pearl close behind, as she was the only one really familiar with the area.

"Guess it was just a stroke of luck that we knew someone who was close to an international police officer." Silver quipped.

"And an even bigger stroke of luck that the police officer happened to arrest someone that might know how to jump to another dimension." Yellow added on. She was in a remarkably serious mood at the moment. She had been for a while now, and as she boldly continued forward, her attitude showed no signs of changing.

"Come on! Keep up!" Pearl shouted back to the group, motioning his hand toward himself and his two companions, "I think we're on an incline!"

"An incline?" Crystal muttered to herself, looking down at the floor. It did seem to be slanted slightly downward. Yep. They were definitely headed underground.

"Why would the International Police be hiding prisoners underneath a place like Trainer Tower?" Gold asked to nobody in particular.

"It's inconspicuous." Platinum's voice came from the front, "No one ever breaks out of a prison like this. Problems only occur if someone tries to break _in_, because there is no sure fire way to tell if a security system is ever good enough to keep someone with a potentially unlimited arsenal out of your facility."

Gold nodded in acknowledgement from the back, even though he knew Platinum could not see him.

"Because of that," she continued, "the International Police needed somewhere discreet to hide dangerous criminals. They needed a place that seemed like a normal tourist attraction for what was actually a small prison island. Trainer Tower worked perfectly, because so many people come in and out of it that if a criminal ever _did _find out that the International Police kept prisoners here, they would never be able to attack the facility without drawing a ton of attention to themselves."

"That's brilliant!" Crystal piped up again.

"You sure spent a lot of time with Looker." Diamond noted.

Platinum shrugged. "We all have our little secrets. Mine just happen to be classified government information these days."

"Freeze!" came a booming voice from ahead in the tunnel.

The entire group paused in their steps.

"Don't move or speak." it continued.

Three men in armored police suits then approached the dex holders from the darkness. Each was equipped with a handgun, a flashlight, a nightstick, a belt full of six pokeballs, and an arcanine at their side. The men methodically went through the group of teens (and Paka and Uji), patting them down and checking their baggage to make sure they had no weapons on them. When they were finished, one of the officers approached Platinum and asked her for the security code.

"14665 Alpha G." She responded with a grin.

The man nodded and took a step back, when suddenly a fourth man emerged from behind him carrying a small clipboard. This man sported the same armored outfit that the other three did, but he was obviously taller, gray haired, and had a slim mustache on his face. He smiled at Platinum.

"Ah, Lady Berlitz!" he greeted, "I was wondering when you might get here!"

"Hello, Officer Booker!" she smiled back, "To be honest, when your men came to search us, I was beginning to wonder if you had gotten my call at all."

"Oh, of course I did!" the policeman assured, "It's just procedure, you know."

"Oh, do I." She sighed.

As the two friends caught up with each other, the rest of the dex holders just stared at the meeting in a kind of awkward silence. They were all thankful that Platinum had such useful connections, but one could not watch a teenage girl have a casual conversation with a top-secret international agent without realizing how odd the situation was.

"This facility is just so secure that I can't afford to bend the rules for anybody, even someone who has helped us out as much as you have in the past." Booker explained.

"I suppose that's just how it is with you officers." Platinum continued, "After all, I still don't even know your real name."

"And that's just something you'll have to deal with." He chuckled, as he lifted his clipboard up to his face. "Now, from what I understand, you are here to visit prisoner #14599865? …Charon?"

"That's correct." Platinum confirmed with a nod.

"May I ask why?"

"Some friends of mine were recently kidnapped by an extremely rare pokemon that only he is very familiar with. He did extensive research on it and even had physical interaction. Believe me when I say, if we thought we could get the information we wanted elsewhere, we would."

"Riiight…" Booker nodded, as he tilted his head a little bit to the side to better see the other dex holders, "And your…company is here because…?"

"They were actual witnesses to the event, sir. Only they can describe what happened from first hand experience."

"Alright." Booker nodded his head one more time and scribbled a few notes on his clipboard, "You all check out." He paused for a moment and bounced his pencil up and down on the paper a few more times before returning to his thoughts. "I've gotta warn you, though, this isn't a rehabilitation center. The criminals we capture are here to stay. The Charon you meet down there may not quite be the same guy you remember."

"Can't be much worse than he was before." Diamond chuckled, earning him a stern look from the officer.

"Just… be careful what you say in there." He continued, "Stay away from his cell, and listen to absolutely everything that Thinker tells you."

"Who is Thinker?" Platinum asked.

"The psychologist in charge of watching these loons." He explained, "The man you want to speak with has an uncontrollable lust for power, a braking psyche, and a genius level IQ. Just watch your step. Understand?"

Platinum nodded.

"No. Do _ALL OF YOU_ understand?"

All the dex holders nodded in unison, before Booker walked them a little farther down the dark hall and to a door with a tall blonde woman in a white lab coat standing in front of it. The door read _#14599865 _on the front and required a keycard to access it.

"Thinker, you take it from here." Booker offered, and the woman in front of the door stepped up to address the group of children, as Booker returned to his post.

"Okay," she began, as she slid her card into the door. "First thing is first. Do not make eye contact with him… at all. Do not at any point reach for or touch any of your pokeballs. Make sure that you keep your distance from his cell. And stay on the subject of whatever you want to talk to him about. If he tries to drive the conversation to other things, it is just a ploy to try to get you emotionally compromised. He is in a cage, so he can't hurt you, but he is desperate for freedom, and a criminal's natural instinct at that point is simply to gain power over whomever they are talking to. Understood?"

"Right." The group nodded.

"Man, they sure are building this guy up." Pearl whispered to Diamond, "I don't exactly remember him being an insane lunatic, do you?"

"Maybe it's one of those psycholog… psycho… maybe it's like one of mental issues you hear about in movies." Diamond suggested, "You know, like, when someone is put in jail so long that they lose their mind?"

The large metal door swung open, and the dex holders walked into a dimly lit chamber, led by Thinker. Half of the room was an open, stony floor with a cement wall and a single light. The other half of the room, partially illuminated by the light and partially in the dark, was blocked off with large metal bars. Only a single cot and a toilet were visible in the lightened portion of the cell.

"Charon!" Thinker shouted, "Charon, we have some guests here to ask you a few questions!"

A moan stirred from the darkened portion of the cell, and a creaky voice cried out "Ooooh, Allison, must we really play your little games this early in the morning?"

"It's not morning yet." Thinker responded, "And nice try, but my name is not Allison, and this is not a psychological test. This is real. You have guests."

"Oh well…" the voice responded, "It's not like I can tell what time of day it is anyway." Some motion became apparent from the darkness, and the creaking of mattress springs could be heard from the guest chamber. "If your name is not Allison, then I only have so many names left to try, and if this is not a test, then perhaps I would make a better conversationalist standing in the light."

"Be ready." Thinker whispered to Platinum.

"What do you-"

"PLATINUM!" the man shouted at the top of his lungs, as he threw himself against the bars of the cage.

"WHOA!" the dex holders shouted, a few of them giving some minor shrieks.

"I warned you." Thinker said.

"Th-this is the guy you told us about?" Crystal asked, looking at the man.

The Sinnoh children could not believe their eyes either. The man leaning against the bars looked kind of like Charon. He was still as short as he always was, and he had a terrible bald spot on his head. However, the hair he did have was three times as long as any of them remembered it being. He had clearly lost a lot of weight (no doubt due to the poor diet that this facility offered), he had grown a bit of a rough, white beard, his teeth were a pale yellow, and he had a crazed look in his eyes… oh! Wait! She said not to look in his eyes!

"Charon… What in the world happened to you?" Pearl asked.

"Oh." The man chuckled slightly, "Pearl! The comedian, right? Well, you know, it's kind of funny. Most people would say that this is the result of being locked up in the cell for so long, but it's not all that bad in here."

"Really?" he asked.

"Oh, yeah, I mean, half the room is constantly lit, making it impossible for me to tell what time it is or even go to sleep some nights, the food is crummy, and I haven't been the outside in who knows how long, but overall, you get used to it. It's not Hell or anything. But I suppose only Dia knows that one for sure." He shifted his eyes to the slightly pudgier trainer, "Right, kid? Tell me, what exactly _does _a shadow force feel like? And do you still have nightmares about it?"

"HEY!" Diamond shouted, "I DIDN'T-"

"STAY ON TOPIC!" Thinker yelled at the boys.

Diamond and Pearl just looked at each other for a moment, nodded, and backed away.

Platinum walked closer to the cell. "Charon?" she asked.

"Berlitz?" the man smiled.

"Our friends have a few things to talk to you about." She finished.

"Well, by all means." He chuckled.

Platinum motioned to her seniors. None of them moved.

"Well don't look at me!" Gold defended, "I might have my moments, but I _know_ I talk too much to stay on subject with this guy."

"So, Doc," Charon spoke again, "are we gonna be doing a _Silence of the Lambs _type thing here?"

"Quiet." Thinker said, "This is a single visit only."

"Oh, for Pete's sake, I'll do it!" Silver sighed, as he walked up to the cell.

"Ooh, tough guy." Charon laughed, "Tell me, you ever heard of a barber shop?"

Silver grunted for only a second. "We need to talk to you about a pokemon named Giratina."

The smile wiped off of Charon's face for a moment. In its place was a look of shock, as though he had just remembered the ending to an old book and thoughts were flooding his mind. It only lasted for a moment, and then he looked back at Silver with another grin. "I'm all ears."

* * *

In Goldenrod, the firefight that had turned into an all-out war continued to rage on. As swarms of rockets and masses of trainers met each other on the battlefield, Officer Jenny's SQUAD car was maneuvering its way through the chaos with Ash and Red in tow. They were looking to pick back up the pokemon that the two trainers had accidentally left behind before continuing their search for the increasingly elusive Mewtwo.

"I _thought_ I told these people to stay in shelter!" Jenny complained, as the armored car continued swerving its way around crowds of people.

"Well, you've got to admit that they're helping." Ash suggested.

"Okay, enough of this!" the driver shouted from the front, "Where did you two say you left your pokemon?"

"Uhh… I don't know…" Ash mused, "Were we on 3rd Street or Main Street?"

"No." said Red, "We were near that shop called 'The Slowking!' It had a Chinese restaurant right next to it!"

"No, you're thinking of 'The Shellder'" Ash came again, "It's a common chain in this universe."

"We have 'The Shellder' in my universe too, Ash! I know what I saw. It was 'The Slowking!'"

"There's no-"

"'The Slowking' is an old thrift shop next to 'Chinese Temple' on 4th Street!" Officer Jenny interrupted, "It's about five blocks from here. I've done rounds near it dozens of times!"

Red grinned at Ash, who blushed a bit for his mistake.

"Well, at least we know where they are." The embarrassed trainer conceded.

"I can have us there in seconds!" the driver announced, "but I aint stoppin' in this fire storm. You'll have to open up the doors and return them as we drive by."

"We can handle that." Red assured.

Officer Jenny helped the two boys open the side of the car for a moment, as they came upon their target. With bullets, lasers, and pokemon attacks flying everywhere, everyone in the vehicle wanted to make this quick. As the car swerved onto the street at top speed, the two trainers looked through the dust and dirt to find their pokemon still loyally fighting with their all against the onslaught of rocket troops.

"Return!" cried Red, as he held out as many pokeballs as he could gather in two hands, bringing his dedicated companions back to safety.

Ash did the same, with the exception of Pikachu, whom he simply called by name, resulting in the rodent leaping into his lap from afar (Pikachu was quite agile).

"Alright! Great job!" Officer Jenny applauded, as she got ready to close the door.

Ash was ecstatic to have his pokemon back, and, while Red was certainly happy to have his back as well, he was trying to stay focused on the more important matter: finding Mewtwo.

"Officer Jenny," the boy interjected, before she had closed the side of the car, "I know it seems a little more dangerous, but do you think it might be a good idea to leave that door open so that we can see the battlefield more clearly and have a better chance of finding Mewtwo?"

"Not a chance." She responded sternly, "This isn't your fight, kid. You two are way too young to be out here in these conditions, and we are not resuming the search for this Mewtwo thing until we get you to safety!"

"You have no idea." Ash sighed.

"Pika."

"Actually, ma'am, we might have a problem." The driver piped up.

"What's up?" Jenny asked, leaning into the front.

"There is a major roadblock coming up ahead." The driver pointed out.

Sure enough, far beyond the windshield, there was a huge concentration of angry rioting trainers headed their way. The group was clearly too focused on Team Rocket to notice the armored car headed straight for them.

"I don't think there is enough room on this street to course correct." The driver continued.

"Well, we can't hit the citizens." Officer Jenny admitted, "We'll have to stop."

"Oh no you won't!" Came a voice from the outside.

Everyone looked with curiosity out the still-open door to the car, as a charizard slowly approached the vehicle from the side, gliding just above the ground. Blue waved from atop the pokemon's back.

"Looks like I finally found you two." He chuckled, "Need a lift?"

"Where exactly do you plan on taking us?" Officer Jenny asked.

Blue shrugged slightly. "I've just been thinking that there aren't enough people taking down those battleships."

"Wait!" Ash shouted, "Are you saying-"

"Yes!" Red jumped in, "Let's do it!"

Blue winked at the two. "Hey, driver, you might wanna let off the gas." He suggested, as he and his charizard disappeared over the car.

"Hold on!" Officer Jenny came back in, "What is he-"

Four huge clanking noises banged on the roof of the vehicle, and the entire car shook.

"Now would be a really good time to close that door." Red suggested.

"I'm on it!" Ash volunteered, as he ran over to the side and grabbed the handle.

"I've got a bad feelin' about this." Said the driver, as he let off the gas, and the vehicle began to creak and shake, stretching upward.

Blue and Charizard were right above the SQUAD car, the dragon's claws tearing into the metal from above until he was latched on tight.

Blue smiled, as Charizard began to flap his wings more vigorously and rise into the sky, "Going up."

* * *

Meanwhile, May was in the middle of one of the biggest fights of her life. Everyone she was with had released their pokemon to fight against the never-ending rocket troops. Even Max got to help out by commanding some of her and Drew's pokemon, as one person could only realistically command so many of them at a time. There were trainers fighting back all over Goldenrod at this point, but there was a specific concentration around her for some reason. Perhaps her little speech earlier had made her seem like a good person to stick with. Nevertheless, she was putting up quite a fight with her followers, and she only paused for a moment when she heard someone yell, "Look out! A car!"

May stopped in her tracks and looked straight ahead, not wanting to be hit by any oncoming traffic in the middle of this craziness, but it was no use. There were literally so many people on every side of her that she could not even tell which way the road was.

Then she saw it. All of the sudden, a huge charizard flew up above her and the crowd. It had apparently just left the ground, but it was carrying a large armored car by its claws. It was hard to tell if this was a good thing or a bad thing. Regardless, for just a second, she noticed that the side door to the vehicle was open, and from where she was standing she was able to catch only a glimpse of a boy inside, closing said door.

She put her right hand over her head for a moment to try to see the image a little better.

"…Ash?"

* * *

Nobody was resting aboard the mothership. All nonessential crew members had been dispatched to deal with the trainer riot, those not fighting were still on the search for Mewtwo, and the other dimensional Giovanni was nowhere to be found. However, as the native crime boss' luck would have it, the only three people not doing their job right were about to come bother him.

"BOSS!" shouted those three annoyingly familiar voices, as the door to the control room swung open.

Giovanni turned around in his chair to find Jessie, James, and Meowth. "What do you three want?! Aren't you supposed to be outside screwing something else up?"

"We're flattered, really," James replied, "But everyone here knows that we'd last about five seconds out there before blasting off."

"Well, I can't argue with that." He admitted, "But what reason could you morons possibly have for bothering me at such a delicate time? I'm busy!"

"Well, it's actually quite simple." James continued.

"You see there was this remote." Jessie explained.

"From a closet." Meowth added.

"It controlled darkballs!" finished James.

There was silence.

"What?" Giovanni asked bluntly.

"While we were in the closet, we found a remote for your darkballs!" James said again.

The boss was not amused. "Okay… please tell me no more about what you did while you were in the closet."

He began to turn his chair back around again, when the trio grabbed the back of the seat.

"Wait! Ya don't understand!" Meowth cried.

"James is just terrible at explaining things!" Jessie quipped.

"Well, _what_ are you trying to tell me?!" he asked angrily.

"Look, the details aren't important." Jessie said, "Let's just say that we have reason to believe that the new boss is about to betray Team Rocket!"

"What?!" gasped Giovanni, "Why?!"

"Well… uh… we don't know." Meowth admitted.

"Okay. Well, when?"

"We… don't know that either."

"How?"

"Oh! We know that one!" piped up James, "It has something to do with controlling everyone's balls!"

There was another silence.

"Get out." the boss deadpanned.

"But, sir," Jessie tried, "We-"

"OUT! OUTOUTOUTOUTOUT!"

The three ran from the room with lightning speed.

"Hmph." Giovanni grunted, "I don't know why I still put up with those two. I should have fired them a long time ago."

He turned around and went back to his own thoughts.

Despite Giovanni's hatred for those three, he still could not help but ponder the idea of his counterpart trying to betray him. They certainly were not on the best of terms, but surely… nah. It was a power deal. If one Giovanni was not around, the other one could not function. His counterpart needed his resources, and he needed his counterpart's planning. Everything was going to be fine. After all, Jessie and James rarely knew what they were talking about… right?

* * *

"Alright," Officer Jenny remarked, as she slid the side door of her SQUAD car open again, "We are on top of a battleship."

Sure enough, as the outside became visible, everyone in the armored car could see that Blue's charizard had successfully placed them on top of an enormous airship.

Blue hopped off of his pokemon and landed next to the car, pokeball in hand.

"Return." He commanded, as Charizard disappeared in a flash of red light.

The boy then turned his attention to his 'passengers' from earlier, "Pretty sweet, huh? After things started getting really bad for us, I decided it would be a good idea for someone to try to take control of one of these ships, but I knew I didn't have the firepower to do so alone. Lucky for me, you two happened to find an entire armored car of police officers!"

Ash and Red simply nodded, as they looked off the side of the ship, still blown away by the fact that they were lifted so high in a SQUAD car.

"And who exactly are you, young man?" Officer Jenny asked.

"My name is Blue." He admitted, "But, trust me when I say, you probably don't have any records on me."

"Ya know, he looks remarkably like Professor Oak's grandson." One of the armored men pointed out.

"I've been getting that a lot." The boy quipped.

"Blue!" Red finally jumped in, "Where are Green and the others?"

Blue shrugged. "I left them on another ship. I couldn't risk losing Mewtwo, so I told them that I was going to look for you two."

"Wait!" Jenny came in again, "There are _more _kids out there?!"

"I don't think it really matters at this point." Said Ash, "Aren't some of the people rioting down there kids too?"

"Not the point!" Red butted back in, "Blue, you need to go make sure that our other friends are all okay. They don't have any way to get off of that ship if they need to retreat."

Blue had not considered that fact to a great extent. He knew that his friends were important, but if Giovanni got Mewtwo it would not matter.

"Alright..." he let out, "But will you two-"

"We'll make sure that this ship gets taken." Ash added in with confidence.

Blue nodded, and with that, he took to the air on the back of his starter, as Ash and Red prepared to go to into the ship.

"Oh no you don't." Officer Jenny said before either trainer could ready their pokemon.

"What's wrong?" asked Ash.

"Well, as far as the plan to take this ship goes, nothing is wrong." The officer began, "But I _do_ think something is wrong with me letting you two kids race in with a trained SWAT Team to take out whoever is in that bridge."

"Oh, come on!" moaned Red, "Haven't we shown you that we can take care of ourselves yet?"

"Déjà vu much?" Ash offered slyly.

"It doesn't matter." She continued, "It is against police protocol. You two have to stay here in the car."

"But…" they protested.

"But nothing! You two stay here, or, so help me, I will put you both under arrest for resisting an officer when this thing is over!"

"Fine." They said in unison.

So, the two trainers watched in silence, as the SWAT team in the car prepared their armor, released their pokemon, and got ready to storm the ship. The only thought that escaped the serenity of Ash's mind was when he quietly muttered, "I sure hope the others are okay."

* * *

Incidentally, they were not okay. Something had happened earlier, and, although the three trainers were not sure what that something was, it had caused the amount of rockets attacking them to increase tenfold.

Green, Misty, and Brock were struggling to even survive from their defensive stance on the battleship. The only pokemon that they had left amounted to Blasty, Psyduck, and Steelix. They had no way off of the ship, and they were not going to last much longer with rockets raining down on them the way they were.

"Where did all of these guys come from?!" Brock cried in astonishment.

"I don't know," said Green, "But I vote that if Steelix faints, we continue to use him as a shield."

"Not funny." He replied.

"Wasn't joking." She said.

Misty backed up to Brock's side. "Okay," she admitted, "Our back wall is officially breached."

"Why? What's up?" he asked.

"All I have left is Psyduck, and he won't do anything unless he has a headache!"

"Are you kidding me?!" Green cried, "Have you tried using a TM on him?"

"What the heck is that?" Misty shot back.

"Ugh. Never mind. Just give that thing a headache before I- WHOA!" She was cut short of her sentence as a gust attack swept her up in the air, and she found herself in the arms of a huge rocket with scraggy blonde hair riding atop a pidgeot.

"Hey there sweetie." Said the big man, "The name's Attila, and the boss is really interested in you."

"Here's something to be interested in," she grunted, as she elbowed the rocket in the side.

"Oof!" he let out, nearly dropping the girl.

Green then used her extra legroom to kick Attila in the face, causing him to let go of her entirely. However, before she could drop back to the ship, he grabbed onto her leg again, catching her mid-fall.

"You're a feisty little thing, aren't ya?" he taunted.

"Flamethrower!" Blue yelled from behind, and all of the sudden, a burst of fire overtook Attila and his pidgeot, causing him to drop the girl to the ground.

"Steelix! Catch her!" Brock cried, and his starter pokemon reached its head to the sky, stopping any damage that might have happened to Green.

"Blue!" Green smiled, as she saw her old friend riding in on Charizard's back to her rescue.

"Looks like you three need a little help." The boy offered.

Furious, Attila turned his pidgeot around to face Blue, "Oh, we got a hero, do we? Well, let's see how your overgrown lizard does against _my _pokemon!"

"There is no time for that!" shouted Misty, "Blue, you've got to get us out of here! We're at the end of our rope!"

"Well, I've gotta get this guy out of the way first!" Blue yelled back.

"That's right, pretty boy." the rocket began again, "If you want your little friends, you're gonna have to go through me!"

"Steelix and I will hold the other rockets off!" Brock offered, "Green, see if Blasty and Charizard can double team this guy, and get him down fast!"

"Right." Green and Blue both nodded.

"And what do I do?" asked Misty.

"Either give Psyduck a headache or return him to his pokeball!" Brock ordered.

Well, Misty may have been in a heck of a pinch, but she was not about to bash Psyduck's head in quite yet. So, she opted to just return the hapless duck pokemon.

However, little did the trainers know that Attila was not alone. As Green and Blue began their battle with the rocket and Brock did his best to shield them from the other attackers, a much smaller woman with long silver hair road on a salamence just below the ship so that no one could see her. Her name was Hun, and this was all part of the plan.

The rocket chuckled to herself as she released an Electivire from its pokeball.

"Alright," she whispered to the electric type, "Just stick to the plan. Bring your tail up slowly, then once it's a straight shot, I want you to wrap around the girl as fast as possible. Shock her enough to make her pass out, but no more."

"Vire." It nodded to indicate it understood. Then it raised one black tail up above the deck, slowly.

"Blasty! Hydropump!" Green commanded, as the pokemon let out a huge burst of water. Even with the whole level issue, there was no way Attila's pidgeot could survive too many attacks from fire _and_ water. Green was fully engrossed in the battle. At the time, she was paying no attention to her surroundings, let alone the supercharged black appendage reaching up from the bottom of the ship.

Brock too, was far too busy holding off hordes of rockets to notice anything strange going on.

Misty, on the other hand, just happened to notice it right in time.

"One more time, Charizard!" cried Blue, "Flamethrower!"

One final burst of fire left the beast's mouth before Attila's pidgeot began to fall, and at the same time, right behind Green, Electivire's tail jutted forward at as fast as it could, determined to grab the girl.

"GREEN!" Misty shouted, "LOOK OUT!"

Green turned around from her victory just in time to see Misty jumping out in front of her and being grabbed by the horrible electric wire. Electivire, unable to see exactly what had happened, let out a burst of electricity that pushed Misty into unconsciousness, and drug her back to the bottom of the ship.

"MISTY!" Green screamed, running toward the gym leader, as she was pulled over the edge.

Brock grabbed Green from behind, as the girl jumped forward. "Green! What are you doing?! You can't just jump over the ship!"

"She just saved my life!" She protested.

"She's gone, Green. She's gone, and we need to be too!"

Blue landed behind them on Charizard. "Come on! I'll see if I can find her, but we need to get out of here!"

"Right!" Brock agreed, as he jumped on the pokemon's back.

Green just silently nodded and climbed aboard as well.

* * *

Ash, Red, and Pikachu were still sitting in the SQUAD car. Bored.

"Are we really going to sit here and do nothing?" Ash finally asked.

"She said she would arrest us." Red deadpanned, "Who knows what will happen once they realize that they don't have any files on my existence?"

"Interdimensional travel." Ash explained.

"Yeah, try using that one in court." Red chuckled.

"Pikachu." Pikachu agreed.

Just then, a huge explosion shook the ship, causing both trainers to stand up.

"On the other hand, we can't just stay in here if we might die!" Red decided.

"What was that?" Ash asked.

Against their better judgment, the boys got out of the car and went to look over the edge of the ship. From there, they could see Mewtwo some distance away, fighting off a barrage of rockets. He was still covered in the M-2 Bind, but he seemed to be putting up a decent fight.

"Bingo!" Red cried.

"Yeah, but how are we going to get to him?" asked Ash.

Red looked across the sky to the ship closest to them.

"Do you think that gap is short enough for a vine whip to cross?" he asked.

Ash smiled. "Saur never fainted, did he?"

* * *

Giovanni was still testing his new remote. He was pressing it on and off, using voice control, and exploiting every feature to make sure it worked right. When suddenly, he got a radio from Hun.

"Excuse me, sir." The rocket began, "We have some progress on that girl you wanted us to capture."

"Ah, good." He responded, "Were you and Attila able to pull it off?"

"Well, not exactly, but you might be interested in who we did get."

"And who is that?" he asked.

"Will that water gym leader give us any leverage?"

Before Giovanni could respond, his radio buzzed again, prompting him to switch channels. As he did, he heard another agent screaming into the microphone.

"MAYDAY! MAYDAY!" shouted the voice, "THIS IS BATTLESHIP 8019 FARFETCH'D! WE ARE UNDER A MAJOR ATTACK! THEY ARE ABOUT TO TAKE THE BRIDGE! MAYDAY! MAY-" the line went dead.

Giovanni switched back to the other call. "I don't care who it is! Bring her to me now! We need to hurry this thing up!"

* * *

Charizard landed on the ground in the middle of one of the trainer mobs that had formed earlier. Blue, Green, and Brock dismounted for a moment.

"Charizard is too tired to go on much more." Blue explained, "We'll have to search for Misty, Ash, and Red on foot. Being with these trainers will help us stay safe."

Green still was not talking. She had never felt this genuinely bad for something before. Generally, Green simply had no regrets. Some people didn't like the things she did or the way she acted, but Green was fine with who she was. Misty on the other hand… Green was pretty positive that she and Misty hated each other. Yet Misty was still willing to jump in the way of that attack to save her life. Green didn't know how to react to that. She and Misty had both said some pretty terrible things to each other, but she never wanted the gym leader to be captured like that.

Green looked up at the sky.

"She was my friend too." Said Brock, "Trust me, I know how you feel."

"Look…" Blue tried, "I don't normally offer to talk to people about this kind of thing, but if you are feeling bad, I'm… here for you."

Still looking up, Green just muttered, "It's just that… I can't believe…. I can't believe…" Something else had caught her attention now, "I can't believe it."

"Huh?" Asked Blue and Brock, as they followed her gaze.

Then, before their eyes, they noticed Red and Ash climbing across a vine whip hundreds of feet in the air to cross from one ship to another.

"No way." They mumbled.

* * *

"Alright, Ash, just a little more." Red prodded, as his counterpart continued to climb across the vine, shaking all the way. "Just don't look down."

"Don't remind me not to look down!" he shot back, "That'll just make me look down!"

"My bad." Red blushed, as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"Chu!" Pikachu squeaked, as Ash finished crossing the vine.

"You're here." Red reiterated.

Ash jumped off of the vine and onto the deck of the ship. "Okay. Thanks." He muttered. Red made it look easy.

The trainers walked to the edge of the ship and looked down to see a very tired, very injured Mewtwo desperately trying to fight off a crowd of surrounding rockets.

"Now what?" Ash asked.

"Now this!" grunted a deep, angry voice, as a fist collided against Ash's face and pushed him over the edge of the ship.

"Saur! Vine whip!" Red commanded, prompting the grass-type pokemon to reach out and catch Ash mid-fall.

Then, Red turned around almost instantaneously, dodging a second fist from the unknown attacker, who, upon looking at him, appeared to simply be a random grunt that just got lucky sneaking up on them.

"PIKACHU!" shouted Ash's loyal pokemon, who was still aboard the deck, as he let out a great thunderbolt, throwing the grunt back into the wall.

Unfortunately, several other rockets on the ship heard the noise, and they began to run out onto the deck to see what was going on. With Ash still dangling by a vine, Pikachu and Saur in no good condition to fight, and a needy Mewtwo right below him, Red was nearly at a loss for what to do.

He looked across the sky again to see the mothership farther away from them, still blocking off the perimeter to the city. If only Aero hadn't fainted. Then, it hit him!

"Hey, Ash!" he cried out, "Do you have any revives on you?"

"What the heck is that?" he asked back.

Well, dang. That was out of the question.

"Hey, Red!" Ash called again, "Is that the sun coming up?"

Red looked over the horizon to see a bright yellow elegance beginning to emerge. "Yeah, I guess we've been here all night!"

"Quick!" Ash cried, "Grab Saur, and have him use solar beam against the ship!"

"What?! Why?!" Red asked.

"Come on!" said Ash, "Just trust me! I trusted you on the whole vine whip thing, didn't I?"

Red looked to the side of the ship to see a handful of rocket troops still coming at them. He had nothing to lose.

"Fine! Saur! Solar beam the side of the ship! NOW!"

"VEN-A-SAAUURR!" the pokemon announced, letting loose a blinding beam attack.

* * *

"What are they doing?" asked Blue from afar, still watching the commotion.

"Maybe they're attacking the ship?" Green suggested.

Brock shook his head slowly. "No. This is classic Ash." He explained, "They're trying to fly a venasaur."

* * *

The huge attack propelled the two trainers and two pokemon across the sky, Ash hanging dangerously close to the ground via vine.

"Wow! This is actually working!" Red laughed.

"It's not over yet!" Ash smiled, as they passed right over Mewtwo, and Ash reached down and snatched the pokemon up along the way.

"Ash!" Mewtwo muttered with astonishment.

"And Red!" Ash reminded. "Thank goodness he still had Saur!"

The five flew all the way over to the deck of the mother ship, where Red had Saur bring Ash and Mewtwo back up.

"WE DID IT!" he and Ash both cried in unison, as they exchanged a double-high five.

"That was so awesome!" said Ash, "Saur is amazing!"

"Well, _you _came up with the plan!" Red complimented.

"Pikachu." Pikachu urged, reminding them of Mewtwo's dire state.

"Oh! That's right!" said Ash, helping Mewtwo up from the floor, "We need to get you out of here."

Red nodded in agreement. "The armada ends right-"

"Going somewhere?" came a tauntingly dark voice.

Both boys looked to the side of the deck ever so slightly to find Giovanni standing across from them.

"Giovanni!" Mewtwo murmured, "Give me one reason not to finish you right now."

"Well, for one…" the boss began, "I don't really think you can at the moment, and two, I have got a deal to make with the Reds here."

"Like we'd ever make a deal with you!" Red insisted.

"Yeah, and which Giovanni are you?" Asked Ash.

"Oh, please," he continued, "Isn't it obvious? Is this dimension's Giovanni even competent enough to do something like _this_?"

The crime boss clapped his hands twice, and a large television screen rose from the ground behind him, the display revealing a large rocket grunt holding a gun to the head of an unconscious Misty.

* * *

**AN: DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUUNNN! What will happen next? If you absolutely must have spoilers, I DO give them away if you message me asking nicely for them. But why would you want to ruin the fun? I also want to remind everyone that I do take suggestions on occasion for future plot development. If you have an idea for something that should happen, just message me sometime, and if I like it and it does not interfere with what I already have planned, I just might see what I can do. I only bring this up because the whole "flying solar beam" thing was suggested to me by a reader, and I really liked the idea. That is perfectly in character for Ash, you know? Anyway, see you all next time!  
**


	15. Round 15: The Deal

**Author's Notes:  
Bad News- This story is being submitted later than normal, and last round, I had a really embarrassing typo that made it look like Attila (the mountain of a man he is) was riding on a pidgy (a really small bird).**

**Good News- School is out for Winter Break! So, next round might come early! A weekly schedule perhaps? And I might think of a Christmas special. We'll see! Also, I turned the pidgy into a pidgeot earlier. I hope you enjoy this round and all of its twists and turns. I personally, enjoyed writing it. So, more power.  
**

******Une version française de cette histoire est disponible ici: ****Absolette**.

**********Ship Warning: Specialshipping, Luckyshipping, OldRivalshipping, Pokeshipping, MangaPokeshipping.  
**

******I do not own or have any rights to any part of the Pokemon franchise whatsoever. **

* * *

"Pikachu-Pi!" Pikachu cried in shock.

He was the only one to really react, as Ash and Red simply stared at what they were seeing, mouths agape. Neither could immediately register what had just happened.

For Ash, he was seeing one of his best friends in more mortal peril than possibly ever before at the hands of a mastermind far more cynical than anything he had ever dealt with.

For Red, in that one moment, whatever chance he had of protecting this dimension's innocence (and possibly lives) was entirely gone. _Something_ bad was about to happen.

Mewtwo was not thinking about the stakes much at all. He was just angry, and he glared at the crime boss for all he was worth, though half dazed and more unconscious than awake.

"Quite a bargaining chip, huh?" the man began with a grin, "I tell you, you three had me on the run there for awhile." He turned his attention to the screen behind him to look at his hostage more clearly. "I had actually asked for that little friend of yours in the blue top, Red, but I suppose if there is anything you three children have proven in the past-"

"What are you gonna do to her?!" Ash finally piped up, a growl surfacing in his voice.

Giovanni turned back around to face his adversaries for a moment, a look of genuine surprise on his face. "What am I going to…? I'm going to shoot her, you idiot. Shoot her through the skull and kill her. She has a gun held to her head. Are you dense?" He looked at Red, "This kid really isn't used to this kind of thing, is he?"

Ash let go of Mewtwo for a moment, causing the pokemon to nearly fall to the floor. Ash didn't notice. "YOU EVIL, SICK, DEMENTED LITTLE CATERPIE!" he screamed as he swiftly stomped toward the crime boss with a pokeball firmly grasped in his right hand.

"Now, now." Giovanni hushed him. "Surely we can settle this like men, Ketchum. After all, this monitor behind me is a two-way screen. Let's not get testy."

The man on the monitor pushed the gun underneath Misty's chin, propping her head up with the firearm.

Ash did not move from Giovanni. He simply glared at the man, anger continually growing in his eyes. His grasp on the pokeball tightened.

Red immediately saw what was about to happen. Ash had no idea what he was getting into. "Ash. Get away from him, now." Red spoke from behind, "Giovanni plays hardball. He's not bluffing."

The crime boss just smiled down at his nemesis' counterpart. "If you're going to do something, Ketchum, do it. Go on. I'm waiting."

"ASH!" Red shouted.

The trainer shook his head a bit to snap out of his rage. His muscles loosened. His angry scowl, while still present, faded a bit.

"That's what I thought." Giovanni said, as his grin widened. "Now, if we are going to negotiate, be a gentleman, and get out of my personal space."

Ash conceded, backing up back to Mewtwo. He propped the pokemon up on his shoulder again, but his eyes never left Giovanni.

"Alright." Red said, "Now that we've calmed down a bit, why don't you tell us what you want?"

"Ah, Red. Always straight to the point." Giovanni smirked, "I'm going to be entirely honest."

"That would be a first."

The boss continued. "I've been in this dimension for about a day now, and as someone who wants to take over the world, I can tell you, this is not exactly prime real estate."

The other Giovanni was actually listening in on this whole conversation via radio, and he perked up when he heard that. "What?"

"I mean, this world is similar to my own, sure, but the pokemon are overpowered, there is still apparently no shortage of dex holders, and my entire organization, despite its HUGE technical advantages over the one in my world, is ran by and occupied with complete idiots."

"Hey!" his counterpart yelled into the radio, "I can hear you from in here, you know? Are you seriously calling _us_ complete idiots? I mean, I'd love to-"

Giovanni pulled the radio from his pocket and dialed the volume down to zero so he would not be interrupted again.

"Hey! Hey!" the native boss yelled from inside the mothership, "Are you ignoring me right now? What gives you the nerve to just talk like that? Can you here me? Stand down! I repeat, stand down!"

"Sorry about that." Giovanni said, as he faced Ash and Red again. "Telemarketers. What are you going to do?"

"Will you just cut to the chase and tell us what you want?" Red deadpanned.

Giovanni's smiled faded away. "Fine. In short, I'm giving up."

"You're what?" Red asked, not buying it.

"Let's admit it." Said the crime boss, "This entire thing is pointless. Red, you and I have been going at it for years. You win some, I almost win others, but in the end, I come back, hatch a new plan, and we never actually get anywhere. The only way this is ever going to end is in death." He motioned toward Misty. "Ask yourself, how long will it be before I finally off Green in some kind of deadly assault on a pokemon center? How long until a small town full of loved ones is blown to rubble due to my unleashing of some destructive legendary? It's bound to happen. Everyone and everything you know will always be in constant danger as long as I'm around, and now that I know about this world…" his gaze changed toward Ash, "Yours too."

"I swear, if you hurt her-" Ash threatened.

"Oh, quiet. I haven't made my point yet." The man moaned.

Ash was silent.

"I'm not going to stop doing what I do until I rule the world, and all of your friends will be in constant danger until that day comes. So, I say we compromise. I am going to offer you a world without Team Rocket."

"Elaborate." Red commanded.

"Here's the deal," he continued, "I have a machine being prepared at this moment to travel to different dimensions. With my team and Mewtwo at my side, I will set up a great multidimensional empire. I will capture every legendary from every world, enslave any civilization I come across, and do with the people whatever I like, starting with my home world."

Red's glare only thickened.

"_But_, if you give me Mewtwo now, I will leave _this_ world and never trample a single blade of grass here again."

Both trainers were surprised to hear that.

"Mewtwo," Ash asked, "is he lying?"

"I… I can't tell…" the pokemon let out, "My psychic powers are getting too weak…"

"You and your friends can stay here, Red." Giovanni continued, "Heck! I'll even give you a free ride back to your own world to gather up more people if you would like."

Ash's eyes were still on the big monitor.

"Ah, yes, and as for the water gym leader." Giovanni turned to face the screen, "I can't risk you two trying to foil me while I'm still in this dimension, you understand. So, I need to keep her as insurance, but as soon as I leave, I'll be sure to swing by Cerulean and drop her off. How's that sound?"

"Never!" shouted Red.

Giovanni turned back to face him.

"I'm sorry Giovanni, but my world is my world, and it's my job to protect it! Besides, I've known you long enough to know that you can't be trusted. As soon as we hand over Mewtwo, you'll probably just shoot Misty and immediately begin taking over this dimension."

"Not to be rude," he responded, "but I wasn't talking to _you,_ Red."

That confused the boy for a moment, but then he realized what Giovanni meant. _He was not the one holding Mewtwo._

Red's eyes turned to glance at Ash. The trainer had Mewtwo leaning on his left shoulder, Pikachu perched at his feet, and his eyes were focusing intently on the crime boss in front of him. Ash was considering it.

"Ash!" Red made certain not to move too much or startle him, "You can't be actually considering this."

He did not respond.

"Ash! He's lying! He's going to do it all anyway!"

"SHUT UP! I'm thinking!" Ash yelled.

"If you do this, you are going to get us all killed!"

Ash took his eyes off of Giovanni for a second to glare at Red. "Imagine if she was your Misty!"

Red stopped.

"You and Misty _are_ friends in your world, right?"

Red looked at the monitor again. His eyes focused on the unconscious girl. Her head was still propped up by the gun. She had no idea that her life was being used to bargain for worlds. For one brief moment, Red could see his Misty. Sure, they were not all that different in features, but now he could see her personality, her life, her soul.

He snapped out of it and looked back at Ash. The two had an entire conversation with their eyes. There are some things that are worth worlds.

"Do what you have to do." Red muttered.

Ash looked back at Giovanni again, still unsure about his decision.

"Tick tock." Giovanni teased.

"Hold on!" Came Mewtwo.

Both trainers and the rocket looked at the pokemon.

"This is _my _world, and I have sworn to protect it." He began, "This is also _my_ body, and I am the one to make this decision."

Mewtwo pushed himself off of Ash, the clunky M-2 Bind nearly making him fall over. He staggered toward the crime boss ever so slightly.

"I'm going to use the last of my powers to see if you are telling the truth. Then, I will make my decision."

A purple glow began around Mewtwo. At first, it was faded, but it grew darker and more opaque. The pokemon screamed as he pushed himself to the limit, fighting against the machine that was draining him. The trainers and the crime boss both began to back off, as Mewtwo's scream got louder and louder. The pokemon began to again elevate into the sky. Then, all at once, the purple shroud disappeared, and he fell to the ground.

"Mewtwo!" both Ash and Red cried, as they ran to comfort their friend.

"Pikachu!" screamed Pikachu.

Giovanni simply stood and watched the four of them. His patience was waning.

The trainers leaned down to help the pokemon, as he tried desperately to catch his breath.

"Mewtwo," Ash asked, "are you-"

"Yes." He muttered.

"Wait." Said Red, "You mean-"

"I've seen it." Mewtwo responded again, "I want you to give me to him."

"What?!" Red asked, "Are you out of your mind?! I know him better than anyone. Trust me, he is not-"

"I KNOW WHAT I'M DOING!" Mewtwo shouted, "This is my world…" he caught his breath again, "Besides, all you have to do is kick."

"What are you talking about?" Red asked, "My world is on the line, and-"

Mewtwo stood up. Both trainers followed.

"Mewtwo…" Ash began, "Are you really going to sacrifice yourself?"

Mewtwo smiled at the boy. "It's not much of a sacrifice." He said, "Besides, you taught me to."

He turned to Giovanni. "Fine." He shouted, "We have a deal."

Giovanni smiled, and from his back pocket, he pulled out a darkball.

On the big television screen, the grunt pulled his gun away from Misty.

Mewtwo walked toward the crime boss without a hint of regret, and Giovanni tossed the darkball at the pokemon.

"I still don't like this." Red muttered, "There is no way he keeps his promise."

The ball opened up, and an ink black beam emerged from its center, engulfing Mewtwo entirely. The M-2 Bind simply dropped off, and the ball returned to Giovanni's hand.

"Now, that's more like it." He mused, "Something finally goes according to plan."

Ash, Red, and Pikachu continued to glare at their opposition from the other side of the ship.

"What?" Giovanni asked, "Oh! Right! Hans!"

The rocket grunt on the monitor leaned in to acknowledge that he heard his boss.

"Please bring the gym leader safely back to her cell, and chain her to the wall."

"Hey!" Ash cried, "You can keep her with you, but you can't chain her to a wall!"

"Well, you're in no position to be giving orders, Mr. Ketchum." He shot back, "I'm doing you a favor, remember? And until I leave this dimension, I will do what I want with your little friend!"

"That wasn't part of the deal!" Ash accused, "You can't just treat Misty however you want!"

"You sure do sound ungrateful for someone whose world I'm sparing! Show a little respect!"

"Why you little-"

"I knew we couldn't trust you!" Red piped up, "You've always got to add your own sick little twist on things, don't you?"

"Naturally." Giovanni smiled, "I-"

BANG! A loud explosion shook the side of the mothership. Everyone fell to the floor.

"Ugh! What on earth was that?" Giovanni asked.

The group turned their attention to the side and noticed a small battleship headed toward them, firing every canon it had.

"Officer Jenny!" Ash remembered.

"That's right! They took that ship!" Red added.

"Oh… them…" Giovanni muttered.

The crime boss stumbled his way back to the ship's entry as fast as he could, the massive vessel now on the move. "See you later, Reds!" he yelled back at the boys.

"Wait!" Ash cried, "How are we supposed to get off of this thing while it's moving?"

"Hmm…" Giovanni thought for a moment, "Let's try this. Don't know, don't care."

The ship shook with another blast.

"What a creep." Ash angrily muttered.

"You're telling me." Said Red.

Giovanni spoke into his radio again, "ALL CANONS, OPEN FIRE!"

"What do we do now?" Red asked.

"I don't know. I thought he would help us get off of here." Ash responded.

"Do you ever get tired of being wrong, Ash?"

"Piiika." Pikachu agreed.

Just in time, another blast came from the other side of the ship. It was a much smaller blast. A hyper beam.

"Nicely done, Dragonite!" came a voice from the side.

Ash and Red both looked up to see Lance emerging from the other side of the ship on his dragon with Gary in tow.

"Lance!" Red beckoned with joy.

"There they are!" said Gary, pointing down at the two boys.

"That ship is unstable." The champion concluded, "Dragonite, see if you can get them off of the deck without landing."

"Dragon-ite!" it nodded.

"You're just in time to do absolutely nothing." Ash commented from below.

"Hey, I was locked out." He confessed.

"Yeah, but that riot you guys started caused a ship to move, and the resulting gap allowed us to get in." Gary explained.

Dragonite's tail swooped to the floor of the ship, and tossed both trainers and Pikachu into the air.

"WOAH!" the boys let out, as they dropped on Dragonite's (now very crowded) back.

"Pika!" the tiny mouse squeaked with a thud.

"Are you two comfortable?" Lance asked, "Because we are about to take Team Rocket down!"

"Like I said, you're late." Ash responded, "They're leaving. The fight is over."

"What?" asked Lance, "But, how did-"

"Trust me, we will have a conversation about it." Red admitted.

"At least tell me you kicked their butts." Requested Gary.

Ash did not respond.

"Ash…" Gary muttered, as he saw the look on his face.

Ash looked directly at his old rival.

"…What's up, Ketchum?"

Red put his hand on Gary's shoulder. "Find Blue, Green, and Brock. We'll talk about it then."

* * *

Back aboard the mothership, Giovanni was taking his time walking toward the bridge. He had already given the order for all troops to retreat. The only thing really left to do was shake that battleship the officer and her team had gotten a hold of. He spun the darkball in his hand, chuckling, as he stopped off into a break room to get himself a glass of water. He was not half way done drinking the beverage when his counterpart bursted through the door.

"You!" he shouted, as he angrily walked toward the man.

"Me." Giovanni shrugged nonchalantly, taking another sip of his water.

"What gives you the nerve to do what you did out there?"

"You mean the one thing you can't seem to do?" he asked with a smirk.

"Calling my team idiots! Calling me an idiot! How dare you even make the calls you did without my permission?!"

"Oh, you'll get over it." He sighed, "I got Mewtwo." He showed his counterpart the darkball.

"Yes, I see that you _got_ Mewtwo." Giovanni remarked with malice. He snatched the darkball from the other boss' hand, "And now, I have got Mewtwo."

The otherdimensional Giovanni sighed again. "What are you doing?"

"Taking what's mine!" he screamed, "We had a deal to work together, and you violated it by not only insulting me and my team and making calls without my permission, but by straight up making calls _you were not allowed to make! _The sheer idea that we will only take over your dimension and completely ignore mine is ridiculous! I will do what I please!"

Giovanni grabbed his counterpart's arm as he was in the middle of his rant.

"What are you doing now, you little-"

He reached underneath the other boss' sleeve and pulled out a small metal button.

"Wh… What is that?" The native Giovanni asked.

His counterpart did not speak. He simply dropped it in his glass of water and watched the static shoot from the top of it.

"What… How did-"

"It's a tracking button." Giovanni finally explained. "I noticed it just a few seconds ago when you were waving your arms around like a fool. I have no doubt that it is how your Red managed to find us tonight. He must have placed it on you earlier at some point, which means anywhere that we have been in the last day might be compromised. You idiot. Do you see why I might feel the need to make a few calls by myself if you can cause this much damage by simply being in the same room as a boy?"

"Don't you talk to me like that, you ingrate! I took you in here! I'm allowing you to use my team! I am the boss!"

Giovanni turned to face himself with a scowl. "Oh, really?" He pulled out the remote that Dr. Sebastian had made him.

"What is that thing? Where did you get it?"

He chuckled. "I'm sorry. That is on a need to know basis."

"Why you-"

Giovanni pressed a single button and then spoke, "Mewtwo, please teach this child some manners."

The darkball in Giovanni's hand shook, and the ink black beam emerged from its center once more, materializing in a very healed, very powerful, and very dark Mewtwo.

"How did you-"

Giovanni pressed the button and spoke again, "Hold him for me."

Mewtwo let out a single arm, and the other Giovanni was frozen solid by psychic force.

His counterpart walked casually up to him and kneed him in the stomach.

"Oww! Ugh!" he cried in pain and confusion, as he hobbled over slightly.

"Put him on his knees." He commanded.

Mewtwo lowered Giovanni to a kneeling position, and his counterpart walked toward him. "Tell me, do you _feel_ like the boss right now?"

He kneed him in the chin.

"The entire time I have been here, we have known this was coming." he squatted to the other boss' level, "We've known there would be a power grab. You thought you were going to remain in authority. But I know that is not true, and now you know too."

"You're… you're insane…" the injured one muttered.

"No, I'm just the only person in this entire dimension who knows what he's doing."

He slapped his counterpart across the face.

"Mewtwo, let him go."

The pokemon did as it was commanded. Giovanni fell even lower due to the psychic release.

His counterpart chuckled menacingly. "Now, you can remain well-ranked among my minions, or you can be demoted to a grunt. It's your choice."

He took the darkball back from the other Giovanni, returned Mewtwo, and walked out the door of the break room. It was nice to see his counterpart sweating for a change.

* * *

"A machine?" Silver asked.

"Yes, that's right." Charon nodded with enthusiasm, "I was in the process of designing a machine that could mimic Giratina's unique ability to travel through dimensions. With no Palkia or Dialga to hold me back, it would have been quite easy. Poor Giratina honestly does have a rough time of it."

Silver was listening intently. This was exactly the kind of information they needed. If they could get their hands on those designs, then perhaps they could find Green and the others.

"Does it work?" he asked.

"Who knows? I never got around to building it before _somebody_ hauled me off to Hell!" he aimed a glare at the Sinnoh dex holders.

"So sue me." Diamond remarked, "You got what you deserved."

"Yes, well, trust me, you'll get what's coming to you as soon as I get out of here." He chuckled.

"You are not getting out of here." Thinker interrupted, "Stay on topic. We don't have all day."

"Right, right. Tell yourself whatever pleases you, miss." Charon smiled.

"Enough!" Silver commanded, snapping back to the conversation, "Tell me, how did you even go about designing a machine that can travel through dimensions?"

"Oh, please," Charon insisted, "It is not nearly as complicated as you might think. I simply did a lot of research and observations on Giratina."

Silver leaned in closer to the cell. In fact, unbeknownst to him, he was getting a little too close, and Charon's eyes shot to a pokeball at his waist. It contained a weavile.

"Observations?" Silver asked, "That helped?"

"Of course…" Charon grinned, "We learn an awful lot from those we observe!"

Barely after getting the word "observe" out of his mouth, the scientist leaped forward and snatched at Silver's weavile.

"WOAH!" the teen shouted, as he jumped back from the attack, grabbing the pokeball in his own hand.

"HEY! WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA?!" he screamed, "YOU THINK YOU CAN JUST STEAL MY POKEMON?!"

"Oh, if this isn't ironic!" Charon chuckled, "I think I remember a little story about a totodile stolen from some famous professor in New Bark Town. What was his name again?"

"That was different! I didn't know what I was doing!"

"Step away from the cell!" Thinker commanded. "You have been emotionally compromised. It is a trick he likes to use. Do not talk to him anymore. Give somebody else a turn."

"See, there is a great example." Charon continued, "She has learned an awful lot about me through observation. Telling, isn't it?"

"Well, maybe you can tell us how to get to another dimension with your _observations_." Yellow spoke up, as she approached the cell.

"No! No! No! No!" Thinker interrupted, "I'm sorry ma'am, but I've been watching you kids since you got here, and out of everyone in this group, you are definitely _the most_ emotionally compromised! I cannot have you interacting with the prisoner!"

"_The most_ emotionally compromised?" Crystal asked, concerned.

Diamond and Pearl both smiled at each other and then began in unison, "Red and Yellow sitting in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-"

Platinum hit them both over the head with a fan. "Now you two are making me emotionally compromised."

"Thinker, Thinker, please!" Charon came again, "I would love to talk to the young girl."

"Not a chance!" Thinker defended.

"Wait a minute." Crystal said, "Let me get this straight. Yellow can't talk to him due to emotions. Silver can't talk to him due to emotions. Platinum can't talk to him due to emotions. Diamond and Pearl already failed. None of us are stupid enough to let Gold try to stay on subject. So, that leaves…"

The girl looked up at all of her friends, who were staring back at her with smiles. She glanced over at Charon.

"Come on," he offered, "I don't bite."

"Hehehe," she giggled, "Maybe we could try Paka and Uji?"

"Or maybe it's my turn!" a voice emerged from nowhere.

Instantly, the room was swept up in a thick dark fog, and a chill ran through the occupants as everybody began to lose their vision.

"WOAH! What's going on?!" Gold shouted.

"I don't like this!" Platinum said.

"Show yourself!" cried Yellow.

"RED ALERT! I REPEAT, RED ALERT!" Thinker shouted into a radio, as the other dex holders around her began to scream, "THERE IS UNAUTHORIZED PERSONNEL IN CHAMBER #14599865! SOMEONE COME IN! SEND BACK UP!"

"I knew I smelt something familiar!" Charon squealed with glee.

Then, all at once, the fog faded… or, at least, the part of the fog that was obscuring everyone's vision faded. The dex holders opened their eyes to find themselves and Charon standing in an empty, featureless orb of darkness. The bars that previously separated Charon from the teens were now gone. Thinker, Paka, and Uji were nowhere in sight.

"What… just… happened?" Yellow asked.

A dark figure appeared in the middle of the group and it slowly took the shape of two separate things. Giratina and Lance the dragon tamer emerged from the fog.

"YOU!" Yellow cried when she saw the man.

"Ah, yes, Yellow. Long time, no see. How are things going?"

Instantly upon seeing Lance, all of the Johto dex holders grabbed a pokeball and aimed toward him.

"GUYS, look out! It's Giratina!" Diamond screamed, as he hid behind Pearl's back.

"No. No. No need to worry, children." Lance commented in a soft tone, as he produced a pokeball, "This dragon is under my control."

"Wait…" Crystal said, "Some guy at a Team Rocket hideout in Sinnoh told us that you ran off with that pokemon yesterday."

"That would be accurate." Lance confirmed.

"Then why on earth are you attacking us with it now?" she finished.

"Attacking you? Oh, no! Of course not! We come in peace." Lance explained, bowing slightly.

"You've got a funny way of showing it." Silver remarked, "You just broke into a high security international prison and released one of its most notorious inmates."

Attention shifted to Charon, who was honestly so shocked and confused that he simply stood there. He did not say a word.

"What can I say?" Lance shrugged, "I told Giratina to find you, and it did. I just figured an expert in interdimensional travel might be useful for the help I need."

Charon found his motion again, and he slowly approached Giratina with the utmost curiosity. "Hello, there... Do you remember me?"

"Don't try communicating with it." Lance interjected, "It is under my mind control."

"Mind control?" Pearl asked.

"Lance can control dragon-types with his mind." Yellow explained.

"How… exactly does he do that again?" Gold asked.

"He's just got psychic powers…" Yellow tried, "...From Viridian Forest... Like me."

"Yep. It makes any pokemon I choose express complete and total loyalty to me." Lance bragged, "And boy is it needed with this one. Giratina is stubborn. It never wants to do what I tell it to."

"Have you considered that it may just know that you don't have its best interest in mind?" Platinum offered.

"Wait a minute! Why are we just casually having a conversation with this guy?!" Gold asked, "This is an insane international… in fact, probably now interdimensional, terrorist we are talking to! Why are you here?"

Lance looked at the dex holders with a completely serious expression. "Gold, I'm here because I need your help."

"As if." He responded.

"No! Seriously!" Lance continued, "Your friends and every pokemon from every dimension are in grave danger as we speak!"

"You know where our friends are?" Yellow asked.

Lance bent down to her level. "Sweetie, I know _exactly_ where they are, and I can take you to them, if you promise to help me."

"Never dance with the devil." Silver warned.

"I'll do it." Yellow said, extending her hand to shake.

"Wait a minute!" Charon interrupted, "What about me? I don't want to help any of you annoying little pests."

"Tough luck." Lance answered, "This girl knows how to deal."

"Bring us where we need to be, and we'll listen to your proposition." Yellow conceded.

"Alrighty then!" Lance smiled, "Giratina! Let's go!"

* * *

Meanwhile in Goldenrod, Officer Jenny was dealing with clean up.

"Alright! Alright!" she commanded, "Relief efforts first, cameras second! If you are from the paparazzi, I don't want you here right now! Only Level 12 city employees are allowed in buildings with ceiling damage! I need something that can tow a battleship out here immediately, and someone bring me the Hoenn girl that started the trainer riot!"

Red, Ash, and friends were sitting on the back of an ambulance not far from the chaos.

"Do you have any pain when you turn your head?" a doctor asked Ash.

"No." he answered.

"Alright. I guess you check out okay then, kid. You sure are lucky you didn't get hurt out there."

"Yeah…" he sighed, "Story of my life."

A nurse was also checking out Blue. Around the time she gave him the "your fine" speech, she realized they had no record of him, but Gary was able to talk her into believing that he was his brother, despite the fact that she had never heard of Professor Oak's "other grandson."

For the most part, Lance was able to calm the rest of the medical procedure, as the Kanto-Johto champion surely passes as a guardian. His status as a G-Man also put a lot of questions about Red, Blue, and Green's lack of previous medical records to rest.

After everyone was checked out, Red returned to the group with Pikachu and the other pokemon fully healed from the battle.

"Man," he sighed as he sat down next to Ash, Brock, and the other dex holders to relax, "That was one heck of a battle."

"Forget battling." Brock commented, "That was an all-out war."

"For once," Blue chuckled, "I really think I'm lucky to have survived."

Ash was not talking. Everyone noticed this, but no one mentioned it. Green was also being quieter than usual. The same response worked with her.

Red shook his head slowly. "There is no way Giovanni keeps that promise."

"Shut up!" Ash finally spoke, "He'd better not hurt Misty."

"Sorry. Sorry." Red defended, "I just know him is all. I don't believe him for a second. He must have done something to trick Mewtwo, or had some sort of machine, or-"

"Shut up!" Ash warned again, "He had better do it!"

Red felt bad for Ash. He really did, but he knew Giovanni too well. He tried to comfort his counterpart. "Look," he began, "I completely understand how you feel. I would be just as worried if that were my Misty that Giovanni had right now."

"_Your_ Misty?" Green spoke.

Red blushed a little. "Yeah, you know, _my _Misty, as in the Misty from our dimension?"

There was silence.

"You know, at first Giovanni had meant to capture me." Green explained.

Red nodded. "I know."

Green blushed a little as she turned to face Red more. "…Why do you suppose he would want to do something like that?" She asked.

Red knew the answer. He just didn't want to-

"Probably because your so loud and obnoxious." Blue cut in.

"BLUE!" Green looked at him, infuriated.

"Hey, just sayin'." He chuckled, "I'd have kidnapped you too."

Red jumped at that one. A huge smile grew on his face, as he asked "Oh, you would, would you?"

Green looked back at Red for a second to see what he was implying. Then when she saw his face, she looked back to Blue, smiling. "Yeah, Blue, you would _kidnap _me? Do tell!"

The boy's face turned dark red. "Okay! That's not what I meant! You know what I meant!"

Green giggled softly.

"Guys," Brock interjected, "I think you should probably-"

"STOP IT!" Ash interrupted, "JUST STOP IT, OKAY!"

The three stopped laughing and looked at him.

"Misty is gone. And on top of that, she is probably being treated horribly! This isn't something to joke about!"

They went back to silence. Point taken.

"…You know," Green spoke again, "She sacrificed herself to save me."

Ash perked up after hearing that.

"Misty and I have hated each other since we met, but she still saved me… Why would she do that?"

Ash let a small smile show. "That's just the kind of person Misty is."

"Alright, guys, we might have some bad news." Gary announced, as he and Lance approached the others.

"What's up?" asked Brock.

"I just contacted the G-Man head quarters and told them about the situation." Lance explained, "The deal you made with Giovanni is irrelevant, my HQ has decided that we have got to take Team Rocket down to save the other dimensions."

"That's what I'm talking about!" Red cheered, "He was never going to actually fulfill his part of the deal, anyway!"

"But what about Mewtwo?" Blue asked.

"We'll have to take him down too." Lance assured.

"And how on earth are you going to do that?" Brock asked.

"Well, I was kind of hoping Ash could debrief the team about him so that we can be prepared and find an exploitable weakness."

Ash looked up at Lance.

"What do ya say?" he asked, "You do have the most experience with him, right?"

"You're basically the closest we have to an expert." Gary chimed in, "That's when we know we're in trouble."

"Wait…" Ash said, "If you guys bring the fight to them, you're going to get your butts kicked."

"Not if you can help us figure this out." Lance explained.

"No." Ash began again, "You don't understand his power! Take it from me. I've seen a lot. Even if you _could_ beat him, it would take you forever!"

"What's your point?" Lance asked.

"What's my point?! Misty is still with him!" Ash explained, "If you send some troops over there to stop him, they will realize our deal is null and void! They will kill Misty unless you somehow found a way to beat them ridiculously fast!"

"Ash… I'm sorry, but I'm under higher command. That's a risk we have to take."

"It's Misty!" Ash screamed, as he stood up next to Lance, "She can't just be shoved out due to command! She's my friend!"

"Are you sure it's just that?" Lance asked, honestly confused.

"I won't help you!" Ash answered.

Lance put a hand on his shoulder. "Look, maybe I can talk to someone and work out a covert mission to save her before we attack or something, but you have got to work with me here, Ash."

"That's it!" he said, "We can go in and save her, and then you guys can attack Team Rocket!"

"Woah!" Lance stopped him again, "Let's not get hasty. I have to get it approved first."

"Approved? We don't have time for that!"

"Why not?"

"The timer the other Lance told Misty about, remember?"

"What?! No."

Ash sighed. "Misty told me that when she met the other you, he told her that Team Rocket was launching their invasion in 41 hours."

"41 hours?!" Red cried.

"What?" Ash asked, "Didn't Misty tell any of you about it?"

"No, you idiot!" Green interjected, "You and Misty obviously have a very special relationship!"

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked.

"How many hours ago was that?" asked Brock.

"13." Blue answered, looking at his pokegear.

Lance was trying to think. "So, that gives us…"

"28 hours until the end of Red's world." Gary answered.

There was more silence, but this time it was different. Previously, the silences were due to remorse, sadness, or just a lack of things to talk about. This silence was a silence of tension. This was a problem.

"I need to go call HQ again." Lance admitted, walking off.

"I need to go find Misty before that call is finished." Ash decided, also getting up to leave, "Come on, Pikachu!"

"Pika!"

"Hold up." Red said, stopping Ash.

"Oh, don't worry." Ash said, "I'll let you guys come too."

"No. You're missing my point, Ash. We can't go."

"Why not? Remember, think of her as if she was your Misty."

"No. I mean, maybe we can save Misty, but let's think about it first or come up with a plan. You can't just keep running off like this. It nearly got you killed last time."

"I survived." Ash reminded him. "Come on! We don't have much time! In a little over a day it will be too late. We know where the Team Rocket HQ is. We can just sneak in. No Giovanni or Mewtwo need to be involved."

"No, Ash! We need a plan!" Red insisted.

"Come on!" Ash pled, "We need to move now! Misty is in trouble! You're with me, right Brock?"

"Actually, Ash. I've always been a plan man." He admitted, "Red is probably right. We don't exactly do our best work on the fly."

"We want to save Misty as much as you do." Green admitted, "But we can't run off to Viridian like idiots just hoping we survive."

"Gary?" Ash asked.

"Plan, Ash." He insisted, "You have some reckless tendencies, and like Gramps always says, 'now is not the time to use that.' We should regroup at my grandpa's lab and figure things out from there."

"Fine." Ash nodded, "I'll do it by myself." He began to walk away.

"WAIT!" Red screamed, grabbing his arm, "You can't go! We can't have another person get captured or hurt! Please, stay with us!"

Ash was not amused. "Alright, Red! I have had it up to here with your parenting! You won't let me do this; you won't let me do that. Even after I prove myself in battle with you, you still are treating me like a child! You are acting like I'm your responsibility! Why?"

"I… I don't wanna talk about it." He offered.

"Good." Said Ash, "Now either let go of my arm, or I will make you let go."

Red looked Ash in the eyes with shock. "You want to _fight_ me?"

"No." said Ash, "Only if you don't let go."

Red was not having any of that. "Don't test me, Ketchum!"

"Okay, both of you calm down!" Brock shouted, as he pulled Red's hand off of Ash's arm, "You act like children."

Brock looked at Red. "He is stubborn. Let him do what he wants."

Ash began to walk away, but Red could not take it. Ash had pushed him to his limit.

"You know what, Ketchum?" Red called to him, "I'll tell you why I've been protecting you! Giovanni is here because of me!"

Ash stopped in his tracks. "What?"

Green, Brock, and Gary all turned to the conversation too. What?

"Yeah." Red continued, "When my friends and I were battling Giratina in Turnback Cave, the legendary sent a portal to swallow us and send us to your dimension. I kicked Giovanni into the stupid thing because I thought it would get rid of him for good."

Ash was scowling now as turned around and walked back toward Red.

"Instead," he continued, "It spat him out in your little world of sunshine and gumdrops, where apparently you never actually have to deal with competent evil!"

Ash was now right in front of Red, and neither of them looked happy.

"I've been protecting you from the beginning because this is all my fault." Red finished in a snarky tone, "Happy?"

Ash was furious. He was now angrier with Red than he had been since they met. His muscles tightened. This was it. He had been looking for someone to blame or punch since Misty had been taken, and now he had just the target.

"I'm going to enjoy this." He muttered, as reared back and sent a fist flying to Red's face. His counterpart was too fast, though. Red, always quick on his feet, spun out of the way and decked Ash with his own punch, sending the trainer to the floor.

The others simply watched with shock as Ash hit the ground.

Nobody spoke.

"Well," Red finally said, "I guess the humans here _do_ still have levels."

Ash rubbed the bruise on his face without getting up.

"PikaPi?" Pikachu asked, as he hurried over to his injured trainer.

Ash looked up at Red for only a second to meet his gaze. "Get lost, jerk." he said, as he stood up and walked away.

"Ash…" Gary tried to stop him, but he pushed Gary aside without a word.

"You'll never be able to save her on your own!" Red cried, "You need a plan!"

Ash never turned around.

"YOU DID WHAT?!" Green screamed.

Red spun around to see a very angry Green glaring at him.

"I… I just…"

"You mean, all of the junk we have gone through in the past day has been because of you?!"

"Well, I didn't-"

"UGH! And to think I wanted to…." She stopped herself mid-sentence.

"Green, you understand, don't you?" he asked.

"Red, you have put a virtually infinite amount of lives in danger and were just an insufferable jerk to your own counterpart." Green commented. Ditty emerged from her pokeball and took the form of a charizard. "Grow up," she said, before flying away on her pokemon.

Red looked around again to find Brock and Gary already gone.

"Blue?" he asked.

Blue simply shook his head and jumped on his own charizard.

"Blue!" Red called again, as he run toward his best friend to stop him from flying off.

Blue only sighed and leaned down for a moment.

"You know, Red, you're kind of right." he admitted.

"What?" Red asked.

"Ash is going crazy with emotions right now, and he's being ridiculously stubborn. He's not acting logically."

"Exactly!" Red exclaimed.

"It doesn't mean you had to punch him, though!"

"He tried to punch me first!" Red pointed out.

"Well, in my opinion," Blue said, "You're both acting like morons."

And with that, he took to the sky.

Red was alone.

* * *

**AN: Well, say what you will, but it seems Ash and Red are both in a bit of trouble. Ash is too stupid to realize that running into a base full of people who want to kill you without a plan is a bad idea, and Red is kind of being a jerk too. My first genuinely sad ending in my opinion. What do you guys think will happen next? Was this chapter good? Will I ever actually finish the Halloween special or start on a Christmas special? Oh, the agony! Find out soon! Review soon! I love you all! Good night!**


	16. Round 16: Back in the Game

**AN: Alright, quick disclaimer: I typed almost all of today's round on my kindel fire HD from the back of a van, piggybacking on my dad' s phone' s hot spot. so, I apologize if this round seems a bit sub- par or has some spelling errors. if you want the absolute best out of this round, I really recommend coming back in a few hours, after I have had time to fix things up a bit and maybe add some more content. But I promised I would get this round out today, and I did it! even if I had to do it on a big family road trip. booya! Also, in the good news category, I was informed that there is now an entry about this fanfiction on the website, tvtropes. But either I was lied to or it has been deleted because I could not find it. Oh well. It' s still good to know that people like this fic either way. I hope everyone enjoys today's round, and we'll see if I can get 17 up by next week. Merry Christmas! (ps I also have a minor Christmas fic going on if you are interested. You can find it on my profile)**

* * *

**This story has since been updated to fix the minor spelling and formatting mistakes that come with updating in chaotic situations. :P Thanks.  
**

******Une version française de cette histoire est disponible ici: ****Absolette**.

**Ship Warning: Pokeshipping and Contestshipping if you really want it.  
**

******I do not own or have any rights to any part of the Pokemon franchise whatsoever. **

* * *

The world was spinning… or was it just the room? Either way, Misty could not make out anything that was going on. Nothing was moving with real time, and she seemed to be fading in and out of some terrible darkness.

One moment, she would be in one room with a blur of colors, and the next moment, she would be in another room with a new set of colors. All of the spinning and the color distortion caused a pain in her head, but she hardly noticed it. Much like the world around her, the pain would fade in and out.

Perhaps if she were in a better condition she would have recognized these phenomena as some of the more common symptoms of severe lightheadedness. She had studied these symptoms in the past when learning to swim. Heck, as a water gym leader, she typically had these symptoms memorized. If a swimmer were to hit their head on something too hard, stay underwater too long, inhale a liquid, or _get electrocuted_, these symptoms would likely plague the victim for anywhere between a few minutes and a few hours, but the funny thing about this particular type of medical knowledge is that it is only useful to you if you are not the victim.

Because of this ironic law of nature, when Misty awoke in a strange metal room with her arms wrapped in shackles, her waist burning across the center, and a sharp, pounding headache, she had absolutely no idea what had happened.

Her eyes opened slowly as she attempted to fight against the chains that ultimately bound her arms to the wall. The first thing she saw in the glimmering light was three odd blurs standing in front of her, and as they began to became clearer, one of them spoke.

"Hey! I tink she's startin' ta wake up!"

There was no mistaking that voice. It was Meowth.

"Oh, really?" James added eagerly, "Is she okay?"

"Twerpette, how many fingers am I holding up?" Jessie asked in an honestly concerned tone as she leaned toward the cell with three fingers held out.

Misty could see everything now. Her eyesight had fully adjusted to the room… and she still wasn't entirely certain that she wasn't dead.

"Ugh… You three?! What are you three doing here?"

"She said three!" Meowth cheered.

"She must be doing fine!" James chimed in.

"No! Not your stupid number game!" Misty snapped back, "I mean what are you three doing in this place?! And…" she looked around her cell a little bit, noticing her severe lack of leg room, the white painted metal that her arms were inevitably attached to, and the small row of bars separating her from the Rocket trio, "And… where am I?"

"All excellent questions, miss." Came a snarky tone from across the room.

Misty leaned to the side a little bit in an attempt to see past her cell wall and pinpoint the voice. Jessie, James, and Meowth looked in the same direction but stood at attention and saluted upon noticing its source.

Giovanni walked into the room with a smirk on his face and a small tracking button being twiddled between his fingers.

"Oh! Not you again!" Misty moaned in annoyance, "You've got some serious nerve, attacking me with your lackeys like that! Haven't you got any guts?"

He leaned into her cage a bit. "You jumped in the way of my attack, sweetie."

Fair enough.

"Well, what are you going to do?" the girl continued, "Torture me? Kill me? Take all my pokemon?"

Giovanni chuckled a bit as he backed up from the cage. "Look around your waist, dear."

Misty did as he commanded, and she found that all of her pokeballs were already gone from her belt. Her eyes widened with suspense. Of course he took her pokemon! It only made sense! Now she had no way to escape!

"What did you do with my pokeballs?!"

"Calm down." He replied, "I've given them away to three of my best agents. I'm sure they will be taken care of."

Jessie, James, and Meowth relaxed from their saluting positions.

"We sat them on a table in our back room." Jessie explained.

"We'll make sure nothing bad happens to them before they need to be returned." James finished.

"Wait. Hold on." Misty sighed as she began rubbing her temples, "My head must be hurting worse than I thought…" The girl looked at Giovanni with the most deadpan face possible, "Did you just call those three 'some of your best agents?'"

The Rocket boss faced the trio for a second. "You weren't supposed to tell her that you were the ones with her pokemon." He complained.

"Oops." They replied in unison, "Sorry, boss."

"Whatever." He sighed.

The boss turned back around to Misty, still playing with the tracking button in his hand. "You know," he began, "I was originally waiting for you to wake up so that I could question you about how exactly you and your friends were able to track me down so easily, but my counterpart and I had a brief interaction earlier that seems to have answered that question."

Misty didn't flinch at all. She just stared the man down from her cell.

Giovanni chuckled to himself some more as he reached through the bars that separated him from the gym leader and dropped Lance's tracking button at her feet. "This is the device you planted on my dimmer doppelganger, correct?"

Misty smiled at that. "Well, _someone_ placed it on him." She explained.

Giovanni's smirk disappeared. "Well, it's no longer operational." he continued, "Just the tiniest drop of water seems to short it out, I'm afraid."

He turned around and began to pace the floor away from Misty, leaving the girl to only watch in curiosity. Jessie, James, and Meowth did the same.

"When you said '_someone' _placed that tracker on my counterpart," he continued again, "you were speaking of your little boyfriend, yes? This universe's Red?"

Misty growled at that. She wouldn't normally take that from Gary, let alone this guy.

"He's _not_ my boyfriend." She stated, bluntly.

"Oh, now, now, there's no need denying it." Giovanni said with a grin as he turned again to face his hostage, "He was more than willing to bargain entire universes for you. Surely there must be something there."

'_Universes?'_ she thought, _'Wait a minute! Did Ash give this creep Mewtwo?!'_

"Nice try." Misty mocked, narrowing her eyes at her captor, "But I'm nobody's damsel in distress. Ash wouldn't have let you keep me alive if it might cause the end of the world. He's saved it too many times."

"Oh, no." James butted into the conversation, "The boss debriefed us on all of this before hand. Our world is safe."

"Wait. What?" Misty asked.

"We were being serious when we said that we would give you your pokemon back later." Jessie jumped in, "Your little twerp agreed to let the boss take over the other dimensions with no interference, as long as he didn't hurt you and promised never to return to _this_ world again."

"Is that true?" she asked again. Ash normally was not one to compromise.

"Of course it is." Meowth added, "And, aldough I guess it ultimately means an end ta our adventures in failure, I'm really gonna miss you twerps when we head over to da next dimension."

Giovanni simply shook his head in the background. "No, you idiots." He piped up.

The trio looked at him with a blank stare, and he turned around to face them. "Oh please," he began as he walked in their direction, "Your Giovanni keeps telling me how useless you three are, and ever since you saved my life, I've been trying to prove otherwise. Would it kill you to make my case just once?"

"…What are ya talkin' about, boss?" Meowth asked.

At this point, Misty was confused too.

"I thought we were letting her go and leaving the dimension after this?" James piped up as well, "What else is there to do?"

Giovanni got within an arms length of the trio before sighing and covering his face with his hand.

"Let me explain it to you again." He tried, "I promised Red, Ash, and Mewtwo that if they followed through with my plan, I would not trample a single blade of grass in this dimension ever again."

"Right." The three nodded.

Giovanni reached his hand toward the trio and handed Jessie a blade of grass.

The rocket turned it over in her hands, looking at it closely. "What is this?" she asked.

Giovanni grinned as he turned around and began to walk toward the door. "That is the single blade of grass that I won't trample."

The trio all gasped at what they saw. He _was_ lying the whole time. He fully intended to go back on his word, conquer _every_ world, and maybe even _kill_ the little girl he was holding hostage!

"You're a moron." Misty shot from her cell.

The crime boss stopped in his tracks. "What was that?"

"I said, 'You're a moron.'" she repeated.

Giovanni turned back around from the door and headed over to Misty. "And exactly what part of the plan where I take over another dimension's evil organization, capture a nearly all-powerful legendary _god_, and proceed to set up an interdimensional empire makes me a moron?"

"Ash will find you." Misty replied, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world, "Believe it or not, but he has a habit of coming through in situations like this. He'll find you and take you down."

He began to chuckle again. "Oh, Misty, he has no idea where I am. I've shut off his tracking device, and I know he knows where our Viridian base is. Do you really think that I plan to have this ship land in a _compromised_ base?"

The gym leader shrugged. "You'll see. Trust me, I was shocked the first few times he saved the world too, but at this point, I just know it's inevitable. That, and you're ignoring basic math."

"Okay, now you're not making any sense." he noted, "What math?"

Misty rolled her eyes. "How do I put this in moron terms exactly? Let's see, you take one kid who has saved the world more times than I can count, add him to a lineup of partners ranging from gym leaders to coordinators to other trainers, and sum that with a group of kids that you are going 5-0 against. It all adds up to you getting your butt kicked."

Giovanni turned away from Misty again. Admittedly, that _was_ some good math, but he had Mewtwo.

"Exactly how scared are you of those dex holders anyway?" the girl continued to taunt, "It must be so infuriating to be defeated by the same group of kids over and over and over again. They always come back. You know you can't beat them."

"Story of my life." James whispered.

"And what are you going to do?" she kept going, "You can't stop them. You've exhausted an untold amount of plans. _You just can't win."_

"QUIET!" Giovanni shouted. He was sweating now. Misty was on his last nerve. "You three!" he pointed at the Team Rocket trio, "GET OUT OF HERE!"

"But, boss, you told us ta guard the prisoner until we land." Meowth reminded him.

"SOME MAGNETON WILL BE GUARDING HER WHEN WE GET TO THE BASE!" he barked, "I'LL JUST PUT THEM ON DUTY EARLY! GET OUT!"

They got out. Fast.

Giovanni leaned into Misty's cage, putting his hands against the bars. "Now you listen to me!" he shouted, "I have your Mewtwo! We are going to a new base! I have YOU as leverage! Those dex holders CANNOT beat me!"

He turned around again and began breathing. Calmer… calmer…

Misty was shocked. She was just watching all of this unfold with horror in her eyes. She had honestly terrified a man from behind bars. That must have really struck a nerve with him.

Giovanni did not turn around. "I am not afraid of your petty little Ash." He began again, "But, at the same time, the only way a victory is even _remotely possible_ for the dex holders is for them to work together with someone from this world. They won't be able to, though. Not after our last battle. They are outnumbered, outmatched, and in a state of emotional peril. They will do the only thing they can do… dissolve."

He walked to the door for a final time.

"And if they do manage to band together, find you, and attack your base?" Misty asked.

"They will find themselves gloriously outmatched." Giovanni explained, "And they will either be killed, or they will come to me, begging that I not go through with my plan."

"In which case…?"

Giovanni gritted his teeth as he gripped the exit doorknob with full force. "I will order Mewtwo to remove Red's head from his body."

And with that, he left his prisoner alone.

* * *

Red was still in Goldenrod. After having his friends pretty much abandon him in the city, he decided it might be a good idea to take some time off. Everyone but Ash had presumably went back to Professor Oak's lab, and Lance was still wondering around somewhere trying to make a call to his HQ. That meant that they could not really do anything productive at the moment anyway. Red would simply wait to hear from the dragon tamer and act based on the information he got. Right now, however, he had decided to make a trip to Chinese Temple, a restaurant that apparently did not mind opening right after the city had fought off an armada of deadly airships.

Red sat down at a booth in the back of the restaurant, trying to somehow slurp noodles from a bowl using nothing but chop sticks. He was tired. The last day had been hectic. There were ridiculously huge battles, other dimensions, Ash being an idiot, and he never even got any sleep. The dex holder yawned with exhaustion from the thought.

"Um… excuse me?" Came a kind, shy voice from in front of the boy.

Red looked up from his bowl with a string of noodles still hanging from his mouth, and before him stood a young girl that looked remarkably similar to a friend from his own dimension. His eyes grew wide, but, in all honesty, it was becoming common at this point.

"Oh!" May shouted in surprise, after seeing the boy's face, "My… my bad! I thought you were someone else! You look almost exactly like a friend of mine!"

Upon closer inspection, the girl was not alone. A little black haired boy with glasses stood on one side of her, and an apparently older boy with green hair and a purple jacket stood on the other side.

"Sapphire?" Red tried, his mouth still full of food.

The party looked at him in confusion for a few seconds. "Ummm… No." May tried to explain (boy, this was getting awkward), "My friend's name is actually Ash, not Sapphire. I-I'm sorry for the interruption," she began to wave her hands in front of her face, "I didn't mean to be rude! I just thought I knew you is all!"

Well, one thing was for sure. This girl definitely didn't _act_ like Sapphire.

"Hold on." Drew interjected, peering at Red more closely, "Is something wrong with you, May? I'm… pretty sure this _is_ Ash."

"No, it's not." Max answered, "To be fair, he looks really similar, but, after traveling with someone for a long time, you just get to know their face really well. This guy is a doppelganger."

Red finally swallowed his food. "The doppelganger has a name." he let out.

That threw the trio off. They had not expected him to intervene for some reason.

"Well…" May began, "What's your name?"

The boy smiled and gave a thumbs-up to the group. "You can call me Red!"

"Well, I'm May!" the girl chirped.

"Drew." Said the older boy.

"And Max!" the little kid cried.

Red's grin only grew. He didn't know of any Drew or Max counterparts in his dimension, but the idea that he may have just kind of ran into Sapphire made him feel less lonely for the time being. It was sort of like meeting up with an old friend. Red could really use that at the moment.

"Well, what are you three doing here?" he asked.

"Originally, Drew and I were on the way to get our next contest ribbons," May explained, "but after getting mixed up in all of that Team Rocket business, we decided that it might be best to just find a place to eat and take the load off for a while."

_Contests?_ Yep. That proved it. This girl was nothing like Sapphire. She was more like some kind of weird Ruby-Sapphire hybrid, but then again, Red would never know that for sure unless he got to have a nice, relaxing chat with the three. If some casual dinner conversation also helped ease his stress about the whole ordeal that he was going through, all the better.

The young champion peered up at his three new friends. "Do you like noodles?" he offered.

* * *

Just beyond Goldenrod's city limits, the sky began to twist. It was not twisting like it would before a storm, but it was _literally_ twisting. The space in the area was becoming distorted and bent, and it continued to do so until the space ripped entirely. The empty vacuum of nothingness remained unrepaired for only a few short seconds as a ball of misty darkness emerged from the hole and settled to the ground.

The dex holders had arrived.

As the mist began to clear out of the way, Yellow immediately turned to Lance for an explanation.

"Red isn't here." she started, "In fact, there is no one anywhere near the area."

It was true. They appeared to be on a deserted street, right outside of a city. The other dex holders noticed this too, immediately assuming that they had been tricked.

"You've got five seconds to explain." Crystal added, her pokeball ready.

"Hold your ponyta!" Lance defended, "I never said that Giratina was perfect at interdimensional teleportation. I've been using this pokemon to jump from world to world for the past day, and it has yet to make me appear right next to the person I was looking for!"

Charon stepped toward Giratina and began to rub its head. "Perhaps it is an adverse effect of the mind control that you've so ignorantly been using on it!" he hissed, "I'm sure there are much more efficient methods of controlling such a creature."

"Oh, will you shut up?" Pearl jumped in, "I'm not even happy that you're here!" He turned to the rest of the group while pointing an accusing finger at Charon, "How can we trust this guy? He's tried to kill me in the past!"

"And Lance has tried to kill a better amount of our seniors." Platinum reminded, "Desperate times call for desperate measures."

"Oh, make no mistake," Charon spoke up again, "I fully intend to get my revenge on you children now that I have escaped that Hellhole of a prison, but first let me hear what inspired the great dragon tamer to bring me over here in the first place. After all, he has my favorite pokemon."

"Alright!" Silver interrupted, "It has become painfully obvious that we have to work together. Now, Lance, can you tell us where my dad and our seniors are?"

"If Giratina was correct, I would imagine that they are somewhere in that city!" he explained, pointing off into the distance, "Part of the reason that the beast teleported us out here is because I told it to make sure we did not attract a lot of attention. This outside road seems to be nearly deserted, and-"

"Hold on!" Diamond said, stopping Lance's monologue. His eyes were still on Silver. "Did you say your dad was here?"

"That's right!" Yellow piped up again, "Giovanni! I completely forgot that he fell in the portal too!"

"Wait. Giovanni? The famous crime boss?" Platinum realized, "The one you four told us all of that terrible stuff about?"

"Ah, who needs him?" Gold announced, "We can leave the jerk in this world. Not our problem, right?"

"Wrong!" Silver's voice rang in again, "That guy is my dad! I may not want him running free, but we aren't stranding him in another dimension!"

Lance began to laugh. "Never have I seen a group of people get so close to the point and still overshoot it entirely."

"What are you talking about?" Yellow asked in a semi-annoyed tone.

"You see, Giovanni is the exact reason that I brought you all here." He explained, "This universe is remarkably similar to our own in a number of ways. There are pokemon here. There are humans here. There are even some of the same stores and restaurants that you might find in our dimension."

"Okay… freaky…" Diamond admitted.

"What are you getting at?" Crystal pressed.

"There are even some of the same _people_ in this world." Lance finished.

"Wait…" Yellow was still grasping to understand this, "You mean…"

"There are counterparts to ourselves that live here." Lance tried again, "This dimension has its own version of me. It also has its own version of Red." He leaned into Yellow a little bit, "It may even have its own version of you."

"And its own version of Giovanni!" Silver realized.

All attention immediately shifted to the boy.

"That's what you were going to say next, right?" he asked, looking Lance straight in the eyes, "My dad has found his counterpart over here, hasn't he?"

"Exactly." The dragon tamer nodded, "And together they have created a full-scale plan to take over, not only this universe, but every universe in existence."

"Now, that's a plan!" Charon yelled with a chuckle, "Why would anyone settle for one universe, when you could have every universe? Team Galactic was thinking too small!"

"Shut up!" Pearl shouted, bringing the man to silence, "This isn't a game! Don't you realize that would mean the end of you too?"

All of the trainers fell silent. They turned the thought over in their heads for a little bit. Every universe in existence? The idea was insane. They had only recently learned that there was even _one _other universe. Such a regime would ruin _everybody's_ lives. Everybody's in existence.

"Now, do you see why I need your help?" Lance asked again, a crooked smile growing across his face.

Then, all of the sudden, Gold had a rare moment of clarity. "No…" he muttered, as he looked up at the dragon tamer.

"What… What do you mean 'no?'" he asked in response.

Gold smiled. "Tell me, Lance, what would you do if you had the power to take over the multiverse?"

"I… I'd… that's none of your business." He stuttered.

"No! You've always despised humanity!" Gold continued, pulling a pokeball out and pointing it toward the Elite Four member, "You seek to wipe humans off of the face of the earth in order to protect pokemon. You've had this conversation with me before!"

"I… I mean, Gold, we've had our differences…" Lance continued, breaking into a sweat.

"Gold, what are you doing?" Crystal asked.

"Just trust me here." He shot back as he began to walk toward Lance, pokeball outstretched. "You don't want to _stop_ whatever it is Giovanni is planning." He continued, "You just want to _take control of it_ and use it to destroy humanity throughout the multiverse!"

"That's right!" Yellow muttered, realizing the same thing, "You would never pass up on an opportunity like this."

"Now, please, children, let's not get too hasty." Lance defended as he backed up with his arms outstretched, "I seek to protect pokemon. Haven't you ever heard the saying, 'The enemy of my enemy is my friend?'"

"Perhaps, but you are an enemy of Team Rocket _and _all of mankind!" Platinum announced. She had gotten her pokeball out as well.

"Which makes you our frienemy!" Diamond accused, pulling his pokeball.

"Close enough." Pearl shrugged as he did the same.

"You were going to play us all." Silver chuckled, "And you thought we would be dumb enough to bring you straight to whatever doomsday device the Giovannis have gotten a hold of!"

At this point, Lance had backed up right into Giratina. The dex holders were all aiming pokeballs at him, and none of them looked happy. Charon, on the other hand, was just watching with a sadistic grin on his face.

"Come on," the scientist laughed, "Destroying humanity? Even I'm not that cruel!"

Lance was not going to be pushed around by these kids, even if he was outnumbered. He put a hand firmly on the dragon behind him.

"Fine! Don't heed my warning!" he smiled, "But you _need_ Giratina's help for this one, and when you've decided you can play nicely with me, give a whistle." The dragon tamer closed his eyes, and Giratina shot up into the sky like a bullet, Lance holding onto one of its wings.

"We've gotta stop him!" Gold cried, rearing back to release his pokemon.

"No!" Yellow grabbed a hold of his arm, "It's too late…"

Giratina ripped a hole through space and time, disappearing with its 'trainer.'

"…He's gone." She finished.

* * *

Ash walked through the door of the Viridian City pokemon center. He was feeling down at the moment, but the young trainer couldn't help but smile at the memories this place held.

"Pikachu!" the little yellow mouse on his shoulder exclaimed.

This pokemon center was where Ash and Pikachu first became friends. It was also where they had their first real battle. It was where Ash first really met Misty _and_ Team Rocket. This center was full of firsts. Sure, some of the firsts were sad, given the current situation, but Ash wasn't exactly here to reminisce anyway.

He had flown to Viridian City to confront Team Rocket. He now knew that their base was right underneath Giovanni's house, and he was going to find a way to rescue Misty.

However, he also recognized that none of his friends were here to back him up. Red had punched him in the face, and everyone else had refused to help him. Ash was doing this by himself. He was fine with that. The others were being jerks about it anyway. Didn't Misty's life mean anything to them? But if he was going to do it by himself, he at least needed to have an arsenal full of useful pokemon, and Snorlax had not been doing him any favors lately.

"May I help you?" asked the cheery Nurse Joy as he approached the counter.

"Yeah…" Ash let out a long sigh, "Can I use your computer to exchange pokemon?"

"Of course!" She chirped, pointing to the left side of the room, "The computers are right over there."

Ash knew where they were. He just felt it was more polite to ask, and as he walked over to take a seat, he noticed a very familiar figure enter through the sliding glass doors.

The trainer was cloaked entirely in red, and he walked in a nearly sliding motion over to the front desk.

Ash could not believe his eyes. "No way…" he muttered.

"Pika?" his pokemon asked.

All of the sudden, Ash had forgotten about the computers entirely. He went to approach the man.

"Excuse me." The mysterious trainer asked the nurse in a gruff voice, "Is this where I sign up to compete in the Indigo League?"

"Why yes this is!" she answered, jogging over to her private computer, "Would you like me to put you in the system?"

"Yes, please."

Ash was only a few feet from the man at this point, barely able to speak.

"Alright, what's your name?" Joy called out.

"Tobias."

Ash snapped out of his daze. "Tobias?"

The man turned around to reveal that he had long gray hair and a confident smile. It was the same confident smile that Ash had learned to hate in the semi-finals of the Sinnoh league.

"That's my name," he remarked, "and who are you, young man?"

Ash shook his head in disbelief. "I… I'm Ash! Remember? From the Lily of the Valley Conference? It was just a month ago? I took down two of your pokemon!"

"Chu-Pikachu!"

Tobias stared at him for a moment longer before hitting himself in the head. "Oh! Of course! I'm SO sorry, Ash! I've just been so busy the last few days, I hardly recognized you!"

"Tell me about it…" He almost whispered.

"How could I forget the guy that took out my latios with a pikachu?" he laughed, "Your pokemon were very impressive!"

"Well… Thanks…" Ash muttered, rubbing the back of his neck, "Um… What are you doing here?"

"Well, what does it look like?" the man asked with a smile, "It's another year! I'm signing up for the Indigo League!"

"But… But…" Ash was really confused now, "You went up against the Elite Four! Shouldn't you be in the Champion's League now?"

Tobias chuckled a little bit. "Well… As it turns out, Cynthia is a lot stronger than she looks."

Ash was dumbfounded. "You lost?"

"Of course I lost!" he remarked, "Very few people ever make it to the Champion's League. Why are you so surprised?"

"Well, you seemed so good…" Ash didn't really know how to put it, "I mean… I don't…"

"Hold on." The older man interrupted. Tobias looked Ash over for a few seconds. He noted the trainer's bruised chin, slouched stature, and over all dirty disposition. He even smelled bad. "Ash…" he finally spoke up again, "Are you okay?"

"Heh!" Ash laughed at that, "I guess you could say that the past day has been a little rough."

"Pikachu." His pokemon confirmed.

"Ash, you don't look well at all." he warned. "Do you need help with something?"

Ash looked up at him with concern in his eyes. He did not say a word.

"Um… excuse me…" came Nurse Joy's voice again, "Sir? I'm going to need more information on you if you want to enter this league."

"Never mind." Tobias answered back.

"What?" she asked.

"Skip it!" he confirmed, "I'll come back later."

The man knelt down so that he was at eye level with Ash. "What's going on, Ketchum?"

"Look… Tobias…" Ash began, "You're cool and everything, but I don't really know you, and I'm in a bit of a bad situation. I'd really rather…" Then it hit him. Ash smiled with a thoughtful gleam in his eye. If anyone could help him now, it was this man. "Hey… Do you still have that darkrai?"

He pulled a pokeball from his belt. "Always."

Ash's grin grew. "How about we get some breakfast? I know a diner not far from here, and trust me, it's a loooong story."

* * *

Red was really enjoying the company of his new friends. As soon as May, Max, and Drew sat down with the dex holder, they immediately started talking about everything that they had gone through the night before. They told him about the rockets, the super market, the riot that May caused, and the ridiculous amount of battles that they took part in.

Still doing his best not to meddle, Red remained quiet about himself for the most part. Also, he was still kind of ticked off at his friends, and he did not think it beared mentioning.

Throughout their stories, the party laughed and giggled. Drew added in a snide remark every now and then, and it would always cause another humorous joke or story to develop. Red was beginning to wonder if the innocence he saw in Ash before was just a thing that everyone in this world had. After all, May certainly seemed to be enjoying herself, despite nearly being killed in an airship raid, and Max, though he was not even old enough to be a trainer yet, had a very similar demeanor. Drew was obviously the odd one out in the group, but even he had his moments, and Red enjoyed knowing that.

"So, it was definitely _you three _who started the trainer riots?" Red tried to confirm. If the answer was _'yes,' _then he probably owed them his life.

"No, no, no!" Drew made clear, "That was ALL May's _'_genius' plan!"

"Hey!" the girl shot back, "I, for one, think that it actually helped kick those creeps out of here!"

"Maybe so," Max jumped in, "but it was still a stupid idea! When you charged outside, screaming, with all those trainers, I was ready to kill you!"

Red was about to comment on that, but he was interrupted by his pokegear ringing. He excused himself and answered to hear Lance after he left the table.

"Red!" the dragon tamer began, "I have some news from the G-Men HQ."

"What's up?" He responded, "And how did you get my number?"

"Green gave it to me."

Red paused. "She's still mad at me, huh?"

"Mad would be one word for it."

Red felt awful. "Well, what news do you have?"

"First of all," he said, "You and the other kids are officially off of this case."

"Okay..."

"This is officially G-Man business, exclusively. We don't even plan to get the International Police involved."

"Well, what should I do?" Red asked.

"What you've been wanting to do all along. I need your team to stay low at the professor's lab until this whole situation is taken care of. We can't have kids from another dimension just walking around. It could cause an incident."

Red nodded from his side of the phone. "That's what I've been saying."

"Well, you get what you wanted." Lance confirmed, "If you find out any important information, report it to me."

Red grunted. He almost hated to ask. "What about Ash and Misty?"

There was a long silence on the other end of the pokegear.

"Well?"

"I tried to talk them into it..." Lance explained, "But the situation has been deemed too sensitive. An all-out assault will be made on the Rocket base... There will be no regard for hostages. They're on their own."

Red sighed. He did not like Ash, or at the very least, he did not like Ash _right now._ So, why did this news make him sick to his stomach? Why did he want to intervene even after Lance had called him and said that everything was taken care of? Lance had an army. He would be fine. This is what Red had wanted from the beginning.

"Red, I know it's tough-" Lance tried.

"No. No..." Red interrupted, "Ash made the choice himself. He's a big boy. You won't get any trouble out of me or my friends."

"...Good..." Lance said in a solemn moan.

Neither trainer spoke for a bit, and eventually, the call just ended with a light 'click.'

Red worked his way back over to the restaurant table with the strange emotions still running in his gut. The Hoenn coordinators were arguing again.

"No! You don't understand!" Said Drew, "Before those rockets showed up, I was about to have a break through!"

"Oh please!" May responded, "You are full of it!"

Red decided to stay out of this one, and he turned to Max for the answer. "What are they talking about?"

Max slumped into his seat. "Some coordinator appeal thing for their contests. It's the same thing they were arguing about before Team Rocket showed up."

Red laughed at that. "You two were arguing before Team Rocket showed up?"

"Yes." both coordinators said in unison, breaking away from their conversation.

Red raised an eyebrow. "But I thought you said you worked together to fight the raid."

"We did." May responded, "When you're in a crisis, you forget about those stupid things. We probably wouldn't have even survived if we were arguing the whole way through that raid!"

"Yeah," Max added in again, "Even after my sister got her stupid idea to run outside and_ storm the giant laser canons_, I just kind of shrugged my shoulders and did my best to make sure that she didn't get hurt."

"You could have talked her out of it." Red suggested.

"Not a chance." Drew assured him, "Trust me, if you understood May, you'd know you can't talk her out of anything! Our best bet was to make sure that she didn't get herself killed."

"Well, why risk something like that?" Red continued, "I mean, putting aside your differences to deal with a bad situation is one thing, but risking your life because someone else is going to try something stupid?"

Drew shrugged. "If it's your friend, it's worth it."

"And if you're gonna be the hero," Max commented, "It doesn't even matter if you're friends or not. You do it because it's the right thing to do."

That was it! Red paused for a moment. Ash was going on a solo suicide mission to rescue Misty. The G-Men were going to show up to the same base in a matter of hours and destroy the place. No one was going to save Ash. Red literally just stopped and looked off into space.

May noticed this first. "Uhh…Red?" she tried, "Are you okay? Earth to Red."

Red snapped out of it. "Oh my gosh! You're right!" he screamed, standing up from his booth.

"Uh… I'm right about what?" May asked him.

"No! Not you!" he corrected, as he grabbed Max by the shoulders, "You!"

"Me?" he asked, a little bit scared.

"Oh! I've been such an idiot!" Red continued to yell, "It doesn't matter who's right or wrong or even if he's being a complete moron! I'm me! It's my job to save him!"

"Ummm… okay?" Max tried.

"Ugh!" Red slapped himself in the face, "This whole time it has been one big power struggle! Who's the best trainer? Who's the team's leader? It's not my job to be the leader! It's my job to be the hero! I'm just supposed to do the right thing! Duh!"

"Red…?" Drew asked, "Do you need some medication or something?"

Red grabbed a pokeball from his belt. He looked inside to see Aero sleeping quietly. He needed to get back to Professor Oak's lab. He needed to round up the gang again before Ash got himself killed.

"Hey!" May commented, "Where'd you get the cool pokeball?"

"Never mind that!" he announced, as he ran from the table and out the door, "I owe you guys so much! I've got to go save an idiot now! Thank you!"

The door slammed behind the eager young man as he ran off to save the day again.

Drew facepalmed himself.

"What's wrong?" asked May.

"He left us with the bill."

* * *

Lance put his pokegear in his back pocket. Everything was set. HQ was on board. The dex holders were done. They knew exactly where Giovanni was. Everything was ready, but he felt terrible.

He felt terrible for Ash. He felt terrible for Misty. He felt terrible for their friends and family. The two probably would not make it out of this. If only there was a better solution. If only _he_ were the Lance with Giratina. If only...

Lance looked up to a building top from where he was standing, and he saw a perfect silhouette of himself against the morning sky. There was no mistaking it. It was the other Lance. He smiled. He may have just found a solution.


	17. Round 17: The Better Dragon Tamer

**Author's Notes: Longest round yet. Slightly late release. Worth it. Holla at a playa! Review. Tell me what I'm good at. Tell me what I'm bad at. Oh! Also, speaking of reviews, you amazing fans have officially given me 101 reviews, most of them constructive! Thank you all so much! I never expected my story to get so popular. I owe it all to you. Hope you enjoy this one. You deserve it! :D**

******Une version française de cette histoire est disponible ici: ****Absolette**.

**********Ship Warning: Specialshipping, OldRivalshipping, Pokeshipping, Gold flirting with girls, a mention of Franticshipping, and a misguided mention of Contestshipping.  
**

******I do not own or have any rights to any part of the Pokemon franchise whatsoever.**

* * *

The dex holders casually wandered into the nearby city, their eyes darting everywhere. They were not really in a formal grouping, but Yellow seemed to be leading the team, with the Johto trainers following behind her, Charon locked in the middle of the teens, and the Sinnoh trainers bringing up the rear. They observed the buildings, the people, the plants, the sunlight… everything. Their odd glances around the area coupled with their unusual line up made it quite obvious that they were not from around town. One look at the group of mixed and matched trainers with attire from around the globe and an elderly man in a prison suit would make anyone suspicious, but none of the trainers had time to critique their own wardrobe. They were too busy marveling at the fluid motions and colorful views of the new world they were in, all the while wondering what their next move would be.

"Well… It certainly looks like Lance wasn't lying…" Crystal muttered as they walked down the urban sidewalk, "This place sure looks a lot like Goldenrod."

Silver nodded. "There are actual people here too."

Diamond was waving his arm in front of his face over and over again. "Is anyone else impressed with the motion here? Check out this arm-waving thing! It's the coolest!"

"Yes, we've all noticed the motions, Dia." Platinum replied with a chuckle.

Gold's eyes, however, were busy focusing on the women they passed. "I'm more interested in the colors." He offered with a sly smile.

Charon facepalmed himself. "I can't believe I have to put up with this."

"Well, believe it." Yellow shot back, "We're stuck here until we find Red and get a way back home."

"But seriously," Pearl offered, "feel free to leave whenever you want."

"No." Yellow came again, "If we don't manage to run into Lance again, we might need him for our return trip."

Pearl's eyes narrowed on the man in front of him. He did not like it. He had honestly hoped that when Charon was taken away by Looker a few years ago it would be the last he ever saw of him, but Yellow had a good point. Charon was an asset. A very annoying asset that had once tried to kill him.

"Oh, please…" the scientist teased with a grin, "I wouldn't miss this for the world! Just think about it! We are the first people from our universe to ever make contact with this parallel dimension! We could be revered as pioneers in interdimensional travel!"

"Technically, Red, Green, Blue, and Giovanni were the first." Diamond responded, prompting Charon to let loose a disappointed scowl.

"Fine." He continued, "We're the second people to make contact, but we-"

"And Lance was the second." Pearl added with a grin, frustrating the scientist even further.

"Fine…" he moaned a second time, ignoring the high five that Diamond and Pearl shared at his expense. "We are the third group of people to make contact with this parallel dimension, but think of the fame it could bring us! The glory! The wealth! The power!"

"The luxuries _are_ enjoyable," Platinum sighed, "But I already have most of them."

"I'm going to have to stop you right there." Yellow said, turning to face the group as she slowed to a stop.

"What do you mean?" Platinum asked.

Yellow took a moment to look at her surroundings again. She kept a steady eye on the everyday citizens that walked around with unknowing smiles on their faces. There were people conversing with each other in small groups. There were some on their Pokégears. There were even some trainers with Pokémon walking freely next to them. Everyone was in blissful ignorance.

"You all realize that we can't let these people know where we're from, right?"

"What?!" Charon cried in shock, "Why not?!"

"We don't know what could come out of it." Yellow insisted, "We know too little about this world to just assume that they will welcome interdimensional travelers with open arms! We've gotta do this quietly."

"Well, that ruins all the fun." The scientist insisted again.

"Yeah, and it makes this a billion times harder!" Gold pointed out, "How the heck are we supposed to find our seniors if we aren't allowed to tell anyone what's going on?!"

Yellow furrowed her brow and squinted to think. "I… I'm not sure, exactly, but I-"

"I say we start on the east side of town." Crystal interrupted.

Yellow looked up at her with a curious tilt of the head.

She shrugged. "That's where all of the people and cars seem to be headed."

The dex holders checked their surroundings again. She was right. Everybody seemed to be headed in a single direction for some reason. In fact, most of the citizens seemed to be in a bit of a rush, and the only traffic happening AT ALL was going east.

"Don't tell me none of you noticed that when you were looking at the colors earlier." Crystal smiled.

Immediately, Yellow sprinted off toward the crowds, and the others followed close. "Crys, what would we do without you?"

* * *

Little did the dex holders realize, not everyone was headed east. In fact, there was one particular dragon tamer that was currently headed directly up, and if the children would have taken the time to look a little more toward the skyline when they were discussing their predicament, they might have seen a very familiar shadow plastered against the bright eastern sky. A little more concentration would have revealed the exact same shadow slowly scaling the fire escape to the building the first shadow was perched atop.

Lance was moving quickly but without sound as he hopped from one platform to the next in a constant attempt to reach the top of the apartment building. He would normally use his dragonite for such a feat, but he wanted to gain a surprise advantage over his opponent, and any Pokémon would just give away his position.

The trainer reached to his earpiece and silenced the little communicator just in case his counterpart had one as well. He did not want to cause any static or interference that might alert his adversary. He was being as quiet as he could, fully aware of the importance this confrontation could hold. His counterpart had Giratina, not only one of the few tickets in and out of other dimensions but also a legendary ghost type Pokémon. Mewtwo's weakness.

Lance's hands finally found their way to the building top, and he pulled himself up slowly, just barely peaking his head over the roof to get a good look at his enemy.

To the man's shock, however, his counterpart was on the complete opposite side of the building, leaning up against the concrete railing and looking straight at him with an arrogant little smirk. He had heard him coming.

His cover already blown, Lance scrambled up the side of the building as fast as he could, but his counterpart simply gave a small wave of the hand and jumped onto a library next to them. He made a run for it.

Lance was not going to let him get away with that. As soon as he cleared the apartment building, he jumped for the library too, never even bothering to consider that he could use his Pokémon now. He did not need his Pokémon. If his counterpart could do it, he could do it.

The chase was on.

* * *

The clock in Professor Oak's lab just continued to tick away. No one was listening to it, but everyone was paying attention. What was it that Gary had said? 28 hours until the end of Red's world? Yeah, that was it. That filled everyone with confidence. And the fact that Lance had now informed them that they were off the case? That filled them with even more confidence. Sarcasm of course. This sucked. This was terrifying, and no one felt comfortable with the situation at hand.

Green sat on the couch next to Blue, both trainers simply looking around the room for something to bide time with. Gary relaxed on his grandpa's rocking chair, trying to do the same, and Brock was watching paint dry from a recliner. Nobody spoke. Nobody had to or wanted to. They all had too much on their minds. They thought about their worlds ending, Ash dying, Red never coming back… They thought about Mewtwo's loss, Misty's capture, their ultimate failure at Goldenrod…

Misty's capture still hit Green especially hard. That attack was meant for her. She knew it. That one rocket had told her that Giovanni was after her. It was probably some sick attempt to use her as bait or leverage over Red, and while she was not exactly thrilled with the idea of playing the damsel in distress, she would have rather it been her than Misty. People did not need to take falls for her. She could handle it herself. She was strong. She…

A small stream of tears began to trickle beneath Green's eyelids.

"Green?" Blue finally asked, "Are you… crying?"

The girl turned away from him and covered her face with her hands to wipe the water clean from her cheeks. "No. Ugh! Don't be silly, Blue. I don't cry unless I'm faking it."

Blue leaned over to his friend. It was not common for him to help people with emotional issues, but he seemed to be doing it a lot lately. "Are you sure you're alright? Remember I told you-"

Green turned back around and shone a huge smile to him. "Seriously," she lied, "I'm doing fine! In a great mood!"

"I think you're overselling it a little." Brock deadpanned from across the room.

Green shot him a glare. "And what is that supposed to mean?"

"That you're emotionally distressed and guilty about Misty's capture." Gary offered without even opening his eyes.

The girl now switched to shooting him death glares.

Gary shrugged. "Hey, we all know it's true. So, why not just be honest about it?"

Green stood up from the couch. "Alright, you! If you didn't look so much like Blue, I'd be sure to wipe that conceded smirk off of your face!"

Gary shrugged again with another grin. "There's always something stopping everyone."

Green was about to let out another threat, but Blue grabbed her arm from the couch, and Brock stepped in the middle of it.

"Alright! Alright!" the older boy offered, "I know we're all getting kind of testy right now. Maybe we should just resolve not to talk to each other for a while."

Green sat back down on the couch with her arms folded. She purposefully turned her glare away from Gary. That kid had a real talent for getting under people's skin. Blue moved his hand to her shoulder for comfort, and her cheeks tinted red for only a second.

"Alright, everybody!" announced Professor Oak's crackling voice as he swung the lab doors wide open, "I'm gonna need the three strongest boys in here to come outside and help Tracey and I unload some equipment from the truck!"

The trainers all turned around to face the elderly man with a look of curiosity. He seemed way too happy with the given circumstances.

"Why? What's going on, Professor?" Brock asked.

He let loose a cunning grin. "Come outside and I'll show you."

Unable to resist the temptation, the trainers followed the old man outside, and as they got to the driveway, they noticed a white truck, tailgate open, with Tracey struggling to pull a large machine out of the back.

The machine was a big bulky rectangle with a mechanical chrome coloring. It had an uncountable number of buttons and switches on it with two small screens near either side of its midsection. The body was also connected to a much larger screen that branched out into two identical tubes ending on the left and right sides.

"Grandpa…" Gary began, "Isn't that a trading machine?"

"Why yes it is, Gary! What do you think?"

Blue eyed it more curiously than the others did. "Trading? Trading for what?"

"Oh! You don't _trade_ Pokémon in your world?" the professor asked.

"Well, no, we do." He began again, "But why would you need a machine for that?"

Brock tried to explain. "Well, you see, Blue, normally these machines are found at conventions, tournaments, Pokémon centers, and other places that people tend to trade Pokémon at. A trainer stands on one side of the machine and puts their Pokéball in the first tube, while the other trainer-"

"No, no, no!" Blue corrected him, "I can understand how it works, but, I mean, why is it necessary? Couldn't two trainers just hand each other the Pokéballs?"

"Hey... guys…" Tracey grunted, "I don't… mean to be rude… but I could really use a hand here…"

Blue, Brock, and Gary dropped the conversation and just walked over to give him a hand. Together they were able to pull the machine from the bed of the truck, and they slowly started to carry it into the lab under Oak's watchful eye.

"Sooo… Professor," Green tried, "Why are you so excited about the machine?"

He smiled at the young woman. "Because this is our new secret weapon."

Green just stared at the man. She could not be sure if he was about to say something brilliant or if he was just getting old and losing it.

"Um… Aren't you going to ask me why?" he asked.

Her eyes narrowed. "Sure. I'll bite. Why?"

The four boys carrying the machine also gave him their attention, or at least, as much attention as they could give the man while they were hauling a huge block of metal inside.

His grin widened. "I'm going to use this beauty to get rid of your level caps!"

"What?!" Everyone shouted at once. The boys nearly stopped moving.

"That's right." Oak admitted, "I've drawn up some plans to convert this trading machine into a mechanism that does not simply send Pokémon from one trainer to another but instead sends Pokémon from one _Pokéball_ to another!"

Gary lit up as he and the others continued to bring the trading machine inside. "And if the stuff that we determined last night with Blue's machamp is correct, then doing that should unlock the dimensional atmosphere surrounding our counterparts' Pokémon and adjust them to the laws of our universe!"

"Precisely!" Professor Oak nodded.

Green looked over the old man a second time, a mischievous grin surfacing on her face. "But, Professor, weren't we told by Lance not to interfere any further with this case?"

"Oh, come now." He shrugged, "Ash and Misty's lives are in danger. How long did you honestly expect that rule to hold?"

Green's grin only grew with surprise and excitement.

"No." he continued, "You may do as you please, but I'm not even going to let an organization like the G-Men tell me what to do if it means losing Ash and Misty. They've both become too important to me over the years."

"Yeah…" Brock's voice came as he emerged from the lab again, having apparently finished his job, "Besides, we've already ignored orders from Lance once. If Ash and I had listened every time someone credible told us to give up, our journeys would have ended a long time ago."

"Heck," added Gary, "You two wouldn't even listen to _me_ about it! If nothing else, Ash is persistent."

Blue came out as well. "Plus, that kid sure seems to drive Red up a wall. So, he can't be all bad."

Tracey emerged last. "Well, I don't know about you guys, but I saw this coming from the beginning." He pulled a wrench from his pocket and twirled it in his hand, "Let's get to fixing this thing!"

* * *

Lance jumped as high as he could possibly go, latching onto the roof of the mall next him. His counterpart was certainly giving him a work out, but he was not going to lose him. As he scrambled up the side of yet another building, he caught only a small glimpse of his adversary leaping onto another rooftop. He darted after him.

From building to building they leapt and climbed, capes flapping in the wind, sweat dripping from their faces. Both men where quick and athletic, well skilled in chases. One had gained his experience from formal league training, the other from the repeated practice of running from any law enforcer that dare try to catch him. They were two shadows dancing across the morning horizon; so similar, yet so different.

Lance's eyes followed his counterpart from roof to roof. He paid more attention to his pray than he did his own footing, but it did not hinder him. He was the dragon master. There were a few moments when he lost sight of his clone for a second or two, -when the man dipped beneath a rooftop or when he was running over a higher building- but it was never for long. He noticed every step. He noticed every inch he gained on the criminal.

However, the chase could not last forever. Cities are not designed with rooftop chases in mind, and before long, the fleeing Lance came to a building too high to jump on and too bare to climb up.

"Gotcha." Whispered the chaser, as he closed in on his target, but the target was not used to playing fair, and in a split second, he called his dragonite out to fly him up the building. The trainer darted up with magnificent speed.

"Oh no you don't!" Lance let out as he summoned his own dragonite, continuing to follow them. The chaser may have had a hard time on foot, but in the air, he had an advantage. His dragonite was not weighed down by a level cap, and as soon as his target came within sight again, he began to close in on him.

The target became nervous. His counterpart was right on his tail, and he was going to overtake him any minute now. He ordered his dragonite to dive down into the third level of a parking garage, but as they came to the sides, they found that the structure was barred off to prevent wild Pokémon from flying in. Dragonite quickly fixed the problem with a Hyper Beam, and after they squeezed through the hole, Lance jumped off of his Pokémon and began to run for the inside elevator.

The chaser came in through the hole that was made earlier and touched down right as the target reached the elevator door. It was locked.

Having cornered his counterpart, Lance followed his example and dismounted Dragonite. "You're trapped! You've got nowhere to run!"

The counterpart turned around to face himself, an arrogant smile still on his face. "Now, now. That's quite a rude way to talk to me."

"It's true!" Lance shot back, "Now, stop running, give me Giratina, and maybe we can come to an agreement that _doesn't _end with me kicking your butt."

The other Lance pointed at him. "Dragonite, Hyper Beam!"

Lance dodge rolled out the way of the attack, but as he looked up, he realized that it was not aimed at him. It was aimed at the roof near him. Several blocks of cement tumbled down from above, blocking the entry hole that was made earlier in the chase.

"You… You _want_ us to be in here?" he asked, confused.

"Of course I want us to be in here." The other Lance answered, "And since I went through the trouble of bringing you here, you could at least talk to me a little more politely."

Lance's eyes widened. He was led here! How could he not have noticed that? The elevator was locked, and the entry was sealed. There was no easy way out. This was a trap!

"Now," his counterpart began again, "Maybe instead of fighting we could just discuss a few things?"

Lance leapt over to his dragonite, ready for anything. "There's nothing to discuss with you. I've heard plenty already."

"Plenty?" the other Lance asked, "You've heard a few stories from a group of kids. Don't you think a more credible source might be needed here?"

Lance watched his clone carefully. He was listening, but he was not letting his guard down.

"At least give me a chance to defend myself." He continued, "I suppose that the dex holders _'conveniently'_ left out my help in taking down the Masked Man of Team Rocket?"

Lance did not budge.

"…Or my help with the Arceus incident in Johto?"

Still nothing.

"Oh, come on!" he pressed, "Why would I be out here trying to kill the dex holders? Giovanni seems to be doing a fine job of it as is! It would take some serious hate for me to follow them to another dimension just to attack them."

"You're not here to kill them." Lance answered, "You're a Pokémon rights extremist. You seek to kill off all of humanity that you deem guilty of harming Pokémon, and you'll use any means to do it. You're no better than that villainous team in Unova."

The other Lance shrugged. "Is that what they told you? Come on, now. Do I seem that unreasonable?"

"You had me chase you across every rooftop in Goldrenrod, and then locked us together in a parking garage by blowing up the ceiling. Yes."

He let out a huge grin. "Look, buddy. You're literally me. Take my word for it. I'm not here for Pokémon rights. I'm here to stop Team Rocket. Humanity could not mean more to me." That was a boldfaced lie.

Lance shook his head. "You're lying."

"How could you possibly accuse me of that?!"

He looked up at his dragonite and then back at the doppelganger that stood across from him. "Because I've felt it too."

"…What?"

"You said it yourself. I'm you. I've felt what you're feeling many times before, and I'm sure I'll feel it many times in the future. I love Pokémon, and I have a heart for them. Nothing angers me more than when humanity does something stupid to hurt Pokémon. That's why I got into Pokémon training. That's why I joined the G-Men. I am what I am to make a difference for the creatures I love."

His counterpart stood in awe. This was unexpected.

"Some days, I do wake up and just wish that all of those evil people in the world were gone," Lance continued, "but I know that it can't be that way. It's not my place to make that call."

The other Lance did not know what to say. His counterpart was not supposed to agree with him. "Then… Then surely you understand my plight! Humanity must be stopped!"

"No!" Lance defended, "I just told you it is not my place!"

"But we can make it our place!" his counterpart insisted, "This… This multiverse! This Mewtwo that Team Rocket has." He pulled Giratina's Pokéball out. "This Giratina! We can use these things to make the world… the multiverse... a better place! We can be the ones who draw the line for how to treat Pokémon! We can be the justice we both desire!"

Lance shook his head. "But where does the line deserve to be drawn? We aren't qualified to answer that question! Good and evil are both too powerful for us to decide that we can make the distinction between them appropriately enough to judge the whole world… let alone the whole multiverse!" Lance began to leave his dragonite, and he walked closer to his counterpart. "I see it now. You really are me. You're just me under a different lens. We are perhaps more alike than any of the other counterparts that have met thus far. You just understand a single thought differently than I do. Perhaps there was even a single incident in your life that was different from mine to cause your altered outlook. If something in your life had been different, you may have become like me."

Lance was now within reaching distance of his counterpart. He touched the clone's hand with his own. "Come on. You're better than this. You're the hero."

The other dragon tamer was silent for a moment. The thoughts in his head were going everywhere. This encounter had given him more of a shake up than he thought it would. He felt… different. He understood the other him. "I'm… a reflection of you…"

Lance nodded. "A slightly different one, admittedly. A reflection of me with a single chip in the glass."

His counterpart looked him in the eyes for a few minutes. Both of them were thinking... Wondering, and they stood silent for an eternity, reflecting on the nature of good and evil, the differences between their universes, and the idea of what fate may have made them out to be.

"There is one problem with that idea, though…" the counterpart admitted.

"What's that?" Lance asked.

"I said I am a reflection of you, but what's to say you are not a reflection of me?" he yanked his hand away from Lance's, "Perhaps if something in _your_ life had been different, you would be like me!"

"Wait!" the dragon tamer tried to defend, "You're missing my point!"

"No! You're missing my point! Perhaps the chip is not on my glass but on yours! You have the same ambitions as me but are too afraid to go one step further! You ruin the justice of your own world due to your inaction!"

"That's not true!" Lance shot back, "I've defended the justice here many times! You bring injustice about in your world with your overly extreme actions!"

"This discussion is over!" Lance screamed.

Then, at the same time, both trainers shouted, "DRAGONITE, HYPER BEAM!"

* * *

"So, yeah," Misty continued, "Although it probably goes against what you've been taught, it's totally okay to let prisoners out of their cells for bathroom breaks, and I can personally promise that I won't make a run for it. What do you say?"

The young water trainer grinned innocently as she peered out of her cell at the guards.

"Magneton." They responded in cold unison without so much as a movement.

She sighed. "I was afraid you might say that." The girl crossed her arms in anger, despite the annoying feeling of the chains rubbing across her chest. "Well, whatever the case is, you should know that Ash is definitely going to come for me and make you all pay."

"Magneton."

"Ugh…" the girl almost gagged, "You're right. That felt terrible the second the words left my mouth. I can't do the damsel in distress thing. I'm really out of place here."

The electric Pokémon did not respond that time.

Misty slumped down a bit. "Plus, Ash _does_ save the world on occasion, but he's still an idiot. It may take him forever to find me."

"Magneton."

"Okay… I've given up on trying to understand what you're saying. You're a Pokémon. I'm only grasping bits of this conversation."

The magneton just floated there, staring at her.

"All I'm suggesting is that maybe Ash can get captured instead next time. I'd save his sorry butt no problem. I'm not good at waiting, though."

Misty looked at the floor. The only serious problem was that Ash still did not know where she was. In fact, she did not know where she was. When Ash, Red, and the others did come to save her, they would probably start by busting into the base in Viridian, the base that Giovanni had already told her they would not be going back to. She was kind of in trouble until they found out where she was… and she was kind of blind until _she_ found out where she was.

The gym leader looked back up at the magneton guarding her cell. "Hey, you guys wouldn't by any chance be allowed to tell me where we are, would you?"

"Magneton." They answered.

Misty facepalmed herself. Right. They were Pokémon. She had just mentioned that she could not understand them. Where was the normal Team Rocket trio when you needed them? She could get the answer out of those three. They were idiots.

"Hey! Do you think you could get the old guards back in here?" the girl asked, "I would really appreciate the help."

"Magneton." That was a 'no.' Misty could understand that.

"Oh, come on." She pled, "I'll be a good prisoner."

"Magneton."

"Oh! It's not that I don't like you. It's just that I think humans are probably more suited to guard humans, you know?"

"Magneton."

She grunted a bit. "Come on. I don't have a problem with electric types just because I'm a water gym leader." She reach her hand out to pet a magneton. "In fact, Pikachu and I-"

"MAGNETON!" the Pokémon screamed as they released a Thundershock on Misty's hand as soon as it protruded from the cell.

"OUCH!" she cried with pain, pulling her arm back in, "What the heck was that for?! I'm already chained to the wall, you idiots! I'm not going to escape!"

"Magneton."

Oh! It was so obvious. They were simply trained to shock her if she tried to get out of the cell. Misty eyed the floor again, spotting the shorted out tracking button that Giovanni had dropped at her feet earlier. That gave her an idea.

Misty leaned down for a second and picked the tracker off of the floor. Grasping it in her right hand, she tried again.

"Hey, Magneton!" she began, "You up for a game of tag?"

She reached her hand out of the cell, and sure enough…

"MAGNETON!" the Pokémon screamed again, supercharging her right arm.

"AHHHH!-Ah-ah..." She moaned in pain, before bringing her arm back inside. She had black over a small portion of her hand, and her burns would probably have to be treated at some point, but she was used to this kind of stuff. She had grown accustomed to accidental blasts from Pikachu.

As the girl opened up her hand, she saw that the tracking button had a small red glow emanating from it again. Yes! It was back on! Misty fist pumped in the air for her genius plan. Giovanni had made one major mistake in his overconfident presentation! He had dropped freedom right at Misty's feet. Now the girl still didn't know where she was, but Ash did!

"Ha! Damsel in distress my butt!" she teased. She only hoped that Ash was smart enough to realize that the signal was back on again.

* * *

Ash's straw explored the last part of the very bottom portion of his cup before he finally stopped sipping his orange juice and slid the glass to the side of the table.

"So… again…" he reiterated, "I don't exactly know you very well, but you've got a darkrai and a better winning streak than me…" he barely managed this last part, "I need you."

Tobias still sat across from the young trainer, pushing his empty plate and breadcrumb covered napkin to the side of the table as well.

"Well…" the man began, "That's… quite a story, Ash."

"And it's one hundred percent true!"

"Pikachu!" Pikachu agreed.

Tobias nodded. He nodded carefully. "I suppose I've seen stranger things…"

"Really?"

"No."

The trainers just sat there. In a booth. Neither was sure what to do.

"Well, what do you say to helping me rescue Misty?" Ash insisted, "At the very least, you should be able to hold Mewtwo off with your Pokémon!"

"Well, what I'm confused about is that your story doesn't add up, Ash."

"Whaddya mean?"

Tobias thought for a moment, tapping his fork against the table. "Well, even if your story about other dimensions, Team Rocket, and this… Mewtwo thing is true, then why are you here asking me for help? What about the friends that you kept mentioning?"

Ash looked off to the side. "They… they're jerks. They don't want to help."

"Well, why ever not?" the older trainer asked, still not buying it, "There are lives and even worlds at steak here. Surely, they would want to stop the kind of destruction you described to me."

Ash shook his head. "We… had a fight."

Tobias smiled and nodded again. "Your bruised chin."

Ash touched his chin slightly, wincing at the pain. "How'd you-"

"I've been around for a while." Tobias explained, "This gray hair isn't dyed. I've just got life experience. I know a right hook when I see one. He got you good."

"Red." Ash grunted in anger. How he had grown to hate that name. Classic Gary was just a notch above Red in Ash's mind.

"Well…" Tobias prodded, "What were you fighting about?"

Ash sighed. "Look, Tobias. Don't you think this is kind of unimportant right now? I mean, we've got a multiverse on the line here. Can't we discuss this-"

"No." he interrupted, "We're discussing this now. You can't expect me to come along and help you fight this big bad Pokémon if I don't know how well you play with others. Now, Red is the alternate you that you met, right?"

"Fine." Ash grunted. He was starting to clench his teeth. "Yes, Red is the other me."

"Well, what's his problem?"

Ash moaned. "He thinks he's better than me."

"Come on. Arrogance?" Tobias continued, "That's the whole problem? I know you can deal with arrogance. You're a trainer. You see it everyday. What's the real issue?"

Ash threw his hands up. "He- He just does! He thinks he's better than me!"

"So does every single trainer that challenges you to a match, Ash! They challenge you because they think they can beat you! What is the real issue?!"

"THAT HE IS!" Ash finally yelled in his face.

Tobias let things settle for a minute. He did not speak. Ash caught his breath.

"What do you mean 'he is?'"

"He is better than me!" Ash conceded again, "I mean, I was able to beat him in a Pokémon battle once, but he had a level cap disadvantage! He trains better than me! He plans better than me! He battles better than me! And he leads better than me! He is better than me!"

"Now, come on." Tobias chuckled, "Think about how illogical that is. You can't prove that."

"HE BECAME CHAMPION OF HIS REGION IN HIS FIRST YEAR OF TRAINING!" Ash continued.

Tobias paused again. "Okay… that is impressive."

"He has taken on stronger rockets than me and managed to take down their entire organization!"

"Alright."

"He's a champion, a hero, a trainer, and over all, basically an Ash 2.0! He's done everything that I have and more but better!"

Tobias nodded again. This was becoming more and more clear by the second. "Jealousy."

"What?!" Ash flipped out again, "Don't act like this was my fault! Red doesn't have to go shoving his accomplishments into other people's faces! He said that I don't deserve my Pokédex!"

Tobias stood up now. "Oh, grow up, Ash!"

Ash stopped his rage for a moment and watched the man.

"So what if he's better than you? So what if he's being arrogant about it? It happens! It happens all the time! Like I said, I've been alive a long time, and I've learned there are a lot of people who are better than me! In my travels I managed to capture both a latios and a darkrai! That was two of the hardest things I have ever done in my life, but a month ago I learned that a kid a fraction of my age was able to K.O. both of them with completely ordinary Pokémon."

Ash was stunned. He never thought of it like that. He never realized how that might look from Tobias' perspective.

"In fact," he continued, "I learned that the Sinnoh League champion can still bench my whole team after years and years of tedious training! Plenty more years than you, Ash! So what? That's life. You can't change it. What good does complaining about it do? Get a hold of your own emotions. Control yourself before you go on complaining about others."

"But…" Ash began again, "It hurt…"

Tobias sat back down and began to speak in a calmer voice. "Of course it hurt, Ash. It often does, but being the very best is not always possible, and it's not even always something worthy of praising. _Striving_ to be the very best, and making sure you are the best you, -the one man you _can_ control and can _force_ to make a difference- that is the important part. Master the talents you were given, because complaining about the ones that someone else has will do absolutely nothing."

Ash looked back at Tobias again. You know, for a guy he hated during the Sinnoh League, he was quickly becoming pretty cool in Ash's book. He was right. There was no sense in complaining. He needed to focus on getting Misty back. He needed to apologize. "Well, are you still in to help us out?"

"Wouldn't miss it for the world." Tobias answered.

"Pika Pika!" Pikachu cheered.

"Alright!" Said Ash, "Well, let's-" his sentence was cut short by a small beeping noise.

"Hm… What's that?" asked the older man.

Ash dug around in his pocket a bit and found Lance's Pokétch still turned on. "Whoops. I forgot to give this back to Lance." He looked at the screen a bit. A new map was appearing. "Hey… What's going on?"

* * *

The parking garage was shaking. The very foundation of the building seemed about to collapse as the two titan dragon trainers duked it out inside. Every Pokémon from both trainers' arsenals was on the attack, except for Giratina, who the otherdimensional Lance kept hidden away in his pocket.

"Charizard! Stay away from the areodactyl, and go after the dragonair!"

"Tyranitar! Watch out for that red gyarados sneaking up on your rear!"

"Dragonite! Check your 9 o'clock!"

"Gyarados! Under the dragonite!"

The attacks went back and forth, over and over again. The walls to the garage were caving in, and both Lances were also taking to the battlefield themselves.

"The level cap is going to be your downfall!" warned one Lance as the other chased him through the battlefield, "That's why you're running after me, isn't it? You know you don't have a chance unless you take out the head!"

"Take out the head and the body will die!" the other Lance responded as he lunged at his counterpart, knocking both of them to the floor. They ripped, punched, and grappled with each other to no end.

"I'm going to take you down!" one called out, "You are not going to hurt innocent people any more!"

"What happened to the whole, 'you're a reflection' talk from earlier? You wouldn't kill your own reflection, would you?"

"No," he responded with a punch, "But maybe shattering the glass will be good enough!"

The doppleganger dodged away from the second punch and kicked his counterpart off of him with both legs. "Pity." He muttered, pointing straight at his enemy, "FIRE AT WILL, BOYS!"

Just then, Hyper Beams jutted out at Lance from nearly every angle, but he was very agile, and he somehow managed to jump out of the way of most of them, only one managing to burn his right leg. When he landed to the floor, covered with his cape, he fell on a limp. That clone was really willing to kill him!

"He is good." The counterpart muttered with a grin, "Oh, boys, nice job with the leg, but you missed a few spots!" he pointed again, but Lance tackled him in a long range jump with his good leg, landing straight on his chest.

"Try that again, and they take both of us out!" he threatened from atop the evil Lance's body.

His counterpart reached into his pocket and pulled out Giratina. "That's it. I've had enough of this. Gira-"

"Oh no you don't!" Lance cried, kicking the Pokéball out of the man's grip. It rolled through the floor and over to the cement wall. Lance grabbed his counterpart by the face and pointed his head at the ongoing battles. "Look at what's going on." He continued, "Does this look like Pokémon rights are being displayed? They aren't just battling. They are battling viciously. They see that we are fighting for our lives, so they are doing the same. Is this what you want to do to get your human-free world?"

"You know nothing!" he screamed back, "Get off of me!" he tried to kick his counterpart off like last time, but Lance was too smart for that. He lowered his grip and fought back against the kick with hips.

"You are killing Pokémon!" he shouted, "You are the menace you claim to fight against!"

"Lies!"

"If your Pokémon beat mine, they will kill them because of the way you train!"

"ALL LIES!"

"But my Pokémon are stronger. You cannot win the day, and once I get Giratina from you, I will see to it that you are locked in an International Prison until it rots around you for the crimes you've committed!"

The interdimensional Lance could not see because of the position he was in under his counterpart, but he could hear it. He could hear his Pokémon's cries for help as each one fainted to the ground in pain. The level cap was too big a handicap for them. His counterpart was right. "You… are stronger…"

"It's not because of the level cap." He responded, "It's because of how I think!"

Lance stopped struggling for a moment, and after a brief lull of silence, he began to laugh from underneath the other Lance. He laughed a sick and diabolical laugh as a thought came to his mind. It grew loud and nearly unbearable.

"What… is your problem?" his counterpart asked, too busy pinning him down to cover his ears.

"You are stronger, but I _think_ stronger."

"What?" he asked, shuffling his arms around to notice that the Lance underneath him had his eyes closed and actually appeared to be in a very calm state.

"Flamethrower." He whispered.

Lance looked to his left and to his surprise, his own charizard appeared.

"Charizard. What are you doing?"

Flames began to seer in the beast's mouth as it eyed its master with dark intentions. "Charizard? Charizard, what are you-"

"Now." He whispered again.

Then, for the good Lance, the Lance common to this dimension, everything went black.

* * *

"Yep." Yellow confirmed, "Something definitely happened here."

The side of town that the dex holders had wandered to was certainly filled with chaos. Buildings were crushed. Telephone polls were down. Craters were in the middle of the street. It looked like World War 3 had played out in Goldenrod.

"I'm gonna go ahead and guess that your dad had something to do with this." Diamond suggested to Silver.

"Unfortunately… I think you're right."

"See," Gold pointed out to Charon, "This is why dimensional travel is bad. In fact, after this is over, we should assemble an entire interdimensional team of specialists dedicated to making sure that stuff like this doesn't happen in other dimensions."

"That would be pretty cool." Crystal admitted, "But what would we call them?"

"Hmm…" Gold scratched his chin, "How about the PokéGuardians?"

"Come on," Platinum interrupted, rolling her eyes, "In what kind of bizarre fiction would that happen?"

"Guys, we should really find out who's behind this." Yellow pointed out, "It might help us track down Red and the others."

"Well, this whole place is filled with commotion." Charon reminded her, "Where exactly do you suggest that we start?"

Diamond spied a Chinese restaurant not far from their point. "Well, I know where I would start."

"Dia…" Platinum moaned. "Not again..."

"Wait!" Pearl interrupted, "He's right! Look!"

The teens looked over at the shop to find an angry manager throwing three people out.

"I don't care if he dine and dashed!" the manager yelled, "Your friend, your responsibility! This is my place, and I say you three are banned until further notice!"

"But it wasn't our fault." Drew insisted.

"We love eating here!" May pled, "PLEASE don't ban us!"

"Nope. Sorry. Too late." the guy insisted, snapping a photo of the travelers. "This pic is going up on the Wall of Shame."

"Wait!" Max cried out in one more desperate attempt, "I'm only eight! You can't ban an eight year old!"

The man put his hands on his hips. "Kid, if I was willing to ban your eleven year old sister and her boyfriend, I'm willing to ban you!"

Max slumped over in near tears as the manager went back into his restaurant. "You all look ten to me anyway..."

"Oh my gosh…" Yellow began in awe, "It's… Sapphire..."

Gold raised his hand. "I call dibs before Ruby shows up."

Crystal slapped him in the back of the head.

* * *

Aero was just about to be over Pallet Town, and Red was ready to apologize, rally the troops, completely disregard Lance's orders, and save Ash and Misty. He breathed deeply as his trusty Pokémon continued to fly him forward. His only real worry was keeping Lance off of their tails. He had tried to call him earlier just to talk to him or convince him, but he never picked up.

Red grabbed his Pokégear from his pocket. Maybe he should try again. After all, during their last conversation, Lance had been so hesitant about everything that part of Red thought that Lance might have actually wanted him to protest. The trainer took another deep breath with pure anxiety running through his veins as he slowly dialed the number that Lance had used to call him earlier.

One ring….

Two rings…

Three rings…

"Umm… Hello?"

He answered! Red was shocked. This meant he had to go through with his speech. "Uhh… Hey, Lance. It's Red."

Lance was breathing deeply. "Red… Yeah, what's up?"

"Are you okay? You sound like you're breathing a bit hard. If you're in the middle of something, I can call back later!"

"No… No…" he assured, "I'm fine. I did just have one heck of a battle, though. I nearly died!"

"Seriously?" Red asked in a concerned tone, "Are you okay? Who was it?"

"Yeah… Yeah…" he huffed, "I'm fine. I'll tell you all about it once I catch my breath…"

"Okay…" Red began again, "Well, anyway, I needed to talk to you about the plan."

"What's up?"

"Be straight with me. You were kind of forced into promoting your HQ's plan of helping the G-Men defeat Mewtwo and just leaving Ash and Misty to be rescued, right?"

"Yeah… forget about it." Lance said.

"What?"

"Forget about it." He repeated, "We… In light of recent events, we can't just leave those two to die… We've got to go save them."

"Seriously?!" Red could not believe this. It was easier to talk him into the whole thing than he had hoped. There was nothing to worry about.

"Seriously." He confirmed, "But it's totally illegal. So, we'll just be leading our normal rag-tag group to save them. Sound good?"

Red smiled. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

"Great!" Lance cheered, "Then where can I meet you?"

"Professor Oak's Lab." He confirmed, "I'll see you there!"

And with that, Red ended the call, and touched down on Pallet. Things were working out so far. They were going to do this. They would bring the fight to Giovanni, and Red would not fail twice.

* * *

Lance hung up the Pokégear. "Too easy."

His counterpart began to stir. He shook his head and mumbled something unintelligible. His mouth was stuffed shut with a cloth.

"MMHM… MHHMMM!" shouted the man as his eyes darted open and he looked around the room quickly. He was tied to a chair. He could not speak. His Pokémon were gone.

"Hehehe…" his counterpart laughed, "Look who finally woke up."

"MMHMM!" Lance grunted, struggling to turn his head at the adversary. His counterpart. His evil counterpart. He was dressed in Lance's normal clothes, complete with his G-Man equipment and Pokégear.

"That's kind of funny actually. You weren't out as long as I thought you would be."

Lance glared at the man. He could not believe how horrible he was in some other dimension. But while pondering this, he noticed something strange. His counterpart had a full belt of Pokéballs. Red and white Pokéballs. They were not see-through.

"MMHMMSHM!" he grunted, motioning to the man's belt with his head.

"Oh, those?" he chuckled, "Yours. It would seem as though there is a small ability I have that you don't. Hypnosis. I can brain wash dragons."

"MMMHHMHM?"

"Oh, yeah, good thing I used it too. Your charizard put you out cold. I'm sure these others will come in handy too. After all, I've really grown to hate the level cap."

Lance felt a strong chill come over his body. It was not nerves. There was something behind him. It was something dark, something evil. Since he could not move enough to see it, he was left to only imagine the horror as his counterpart laughed.

"Look, buddy. I feel for you. Like we discussed, you're basically me. You just suck at it. I couldn't find it in me to kill you… Well, not yet anyway."

Lance's eyes widened as Giratina flew over his head and positioned himself next to the other Lance. The man returned his dragon to its Pokéball.

"MMHMMMHM?" he asked.

His counterpart did not really respond to this one, he just leaned forward and kicked the chair Lance was tied to over on its back… but it never landed. No, something was wrong, Lance just fell with the chair. He fell into an endless black void of nothing. It was almost like one of those falling dreams, except it was really happening. Darkness engulfed him in his perpetual fall as his own small world left him behind. His counterpart had pushed him into a portal.

"Have fun in the Distortion World!" he called, "One way in! No way out! Now I'll know where to find you if I need you!"

The portal closed, and so did Lance's eyes. He was silent. He was motionless. He had failed.

* * *

**Happy Birthday, Crisis on Two PokéWorlds! I referenced you as a present! Can my clever viewers find the reference? We shall see. However, in the mean time, I'd just like to congratulate PokeRescue18 on 3 very successful years! Of course, I just found out you existed around my story's 7th round, but still. I hope you enjoy all of the praise, reviews, favorites, and follows you have gotten! **

**As for _my_ story, it would seem as though things have gotten a bit more complicated. Ash is back in the game, along with Tobias. Professor Oak has come up with a solution to the level cap problem. Misty brought Lance's tracker back on line so the team can find Giovanni again. And the other dex holders have just met up with May, Max, and Drew. However, anime Lance was unable to conquer manga Lance due to his psychic abilities, and the manga version plans on masquerading as his counterpart while the real deal is trapped in the Distortion World. How could this all end? Of course, I know the answer, but I don't post spoilers on my updates. That, and I'm tired now. This round took way too long to write. The more segmented the characters get, the harder it is to pull a round together. I'm gonna be relieved when everyone starts getting back into groups again. Thanks everyone! Peace!  
**


	18. Round 18: Here's the Plan

**Author's Note: So, in case you didn't get the memo, school is back in session for me. That's why I have been doing a poor job of updating the last couple of times. I apologize for the delays, but here at long last is the 18 round of "Pokemon Adventures: AshGray Chapter!" I will be doing my best not to procrastinate from now on and accept the fact that I probably won't get many views today or tomorrow because of the Super Bowl, but whatever... If you ARE reading my work, you can help make me feel better by reviewing, favoriting, or following this story! If you prefer to be private about it, you can talk to me through PM's, because I will be lonely this weekend, like I just said. Also, I have recently started making another fanfiction as part of a research project I am doing at my college. Go check out the story "Let's Make a Fanfiction!" to help me complete my research and win money for charity! I'm not saying you HAVE to... I'm just saying that if you don't, you probably hate charities and are a terrible person. :P lol, jk, jk! We're kool.  
**

**Une version française de cette histoire est disponible ici: ****Absolette**.  


**Ship Warning: Pokeshipping, Contestshipping, MangaQuestshipping, a mention of Franticshipping, Gold being Gold, and maybe some Specialshipping if you look for it?  
**

******I do not own or have any rights to any part of the Pokemon franchise whatsoever. **

* * *

**Undisclosed Location**

**Invasion Countdown: 25 hours 42 minutes**

A big bulky man with well combed gray hair and a clean-shaven face was making a brisk walk through his busy hall. The waxed tiles on the floor were so clean that his black suit and tie were reflected almost perfectly back at him with each step. His name was Morrison, Greg Morrison, director of the Allied Government Covert Investigation Agency, codename: G-Men, and today Director Morrison was a very busy man.

"Excuse me, Director," a younger thin man with glasses interjected as he walked beside him, "but are you positive that you want to go through with this right now? This project is being put together much faster than most, and neither the research nor the strategy division has had much time to plan for the various X factors involved in this very… unique situation."

The big man did not hesitate or even skip a beat. He just kept walking forward, turning his head toward the smaller man ever so slightly to address the problem. "I'm aware of the difficulties associated with putting a project of this size together quickly." he assured in a gruff voice, "However, if Agent 39's assessment of the situation is accurate- and it always is- then time is simply a luxury that we cannot afford. Team Rocket and their Superpokémon must be stopped at all costs ASAP."

"But, sir," the skinny man responded, "Lance's-"

"Agent 39." Morrison corrected him. "We call our agents by their code names when we are on the clock."

"Right." He corrected himself, "I'm sorry. As I was saying, Agent 39's assessment of the situation indicates that we still have roughly 26 hours before this massive plan is put into action. With that kind of time, would it not be practical to go over some theoreticals or extra planning in order to ensure success?"

"Those numbers were given to 39 by a young trainer who got them from a young gym leader who got them from an evil version 39. We have no reason to believe that they are entirely accurate or have not been skewed at some point in transfer." He looked at the younger man a little bit closer this time. "I like to hold to the old saying that we are better safe than sorry. As soon as those rockets leave our dimension, they are out of our hands."

Um… right…" the man adjusted his glasses, "That is another thing I wanted to talk to you about… Other dimensions? Genetically cloned Superpokémon? Giovanni being the leader of Team Rocket? Doesn't 39's assessment seem a little… improbable to you?"

That caused Morrison to stop walking. He turned around to face the younger man completely. "Terry, we are the G-Men. We explore _nothing but_ the realm of improbability. Agent 39 is one of the best field men we have, and I literally cannot think of a single instance in which he erred on _a portion_ of an assessment. I realize and appreciate that it is your job as my advisor to point out any logical gaps in my planning, but I trust 39 immensely, and it adds up all too well with the information we have about the recent attacks on Goldenrod. We need to take action!"

The two men continued on, entering into a door on the right of the hall way that lead into a small furnished area, complete with carpeting and a large well lit mirror. The security waved them in.

"Well, how sure are you exactly?" Terry pressed.

Morrison straightened his tie a bit as he prepared to go back out an opposing door. "Let me put it this way. When I heard 39's assessment of the situation, I didn't want to send a massive strike team in to defeat Team Rocket like we are about to."

"You didn't?"

"No. I wanted to drop the biggest bomb we had on their HQ and later go in to evaluate the remains, but Kanto won't let me."

Terry was shocked at that, and he did not know exactly what to say.

The director simply chuckled a bit and gave him a farewell wave before exiting out the other door and emerging upon a huge stage surrounded by other G-Men agents in the audience. There was already a man on center stage when Morrison appeared, and he handed the microphone over to the director after a short introduction.

The stadium was silent for a short moment.

"Alright!" Morrison announced, "I'm sure that you have all been briefed on Agent 39's recent assessment report. It isn't pretty. I am here to tell you exactly how this mission is going to work. It's a straight up raid. If we are brave, smart, strong, and cooperate with each other, then when I send you men to storm that HQ, you will be successful. I'm about to read to you the exact procedures we are going to follow and all of the information we have on the target. Here's the plan…"

* * *

The massive mothership began to shake wildly as it and the surrounding ships made their final descent. Giovanni sat on the main bridge, giving an approving nod until the vessels came to a complete stop.

"We have officially arrived at our destination, sir." The captain informed him.

"Good. Good." He replied, "…Where exactly is that?"

"Ilex Forest."

Giovanni walked from his chair and looked out the nearest window to see the surrounding atmosphere of nothing but thick brush, large trees, and wild Pokémon in every direction. Most other people would have taken time to appreciate Mother Nature's beauty, but it only raised more questions for him.

"Counterpart!" he asked, getting the attention of his nearby doppelganger, "What's going on?"

"What do you mean, 'What's going on?'" he sneered, "We're exactly where you wanted us to be, Team Rocket's second largest base of operations, Ilex Forest."

Giovanni looked out the window a second time. "It… It's huge!"

"Well, no duh, Sherlock. You can't build an illegal secret base for a criminal organization in the middle of a_ small_ forest."

Giovanni whipped back around to look at his counterpart again. "Don't you start getting smart with me! I made a simple comment. The Ilex Forest is much smaller in my home world!"

"Your absolutely right. It _was_ a _simple_ comment." The other Giovanni chuckled in a mocking tone.

His counterpart walked closer to him and looked him dead in the eyes before motioning to the darkball at his waist. "Do we need to have another conversation about respect, lackey?"

"LACKEY?! I'll have you know that I have been raising this organization from the ground since-"

The boss took the darkball from his belt and held it in his right hand, prompting a sudden silence from his counterpart. "I asked a simple question, lackey. Are you challenging me?"

The crime boss sweatdropped at the sight of that terrible monstrosity being aimed at him. He wanted so badly to stand up to his counterpart, but he simply had too much power.

"Well, are you?"

"…No." Giovanni finally conceded.

"No, what?" he pressed.

No. Giovanni was not going to do it. He was not going to say it. The little punk that just waltzes in, captures a legendary, and takes over his team actually expected him to say-

"NO, WHAT?" he asked again, bringing the darkball even closer to him.

"No, sir." He answered.

"Good." Giovanni clipped the ball back to his belt. "You're getting better. You'll know your place soon enough. Now, can I get a status update on everything?"

"Well," the counterpart began, "we just landed at another base, and you have yet to give the order for us to unload."

"No, no. Not that." He corrected, "I mean, how is the evacuation of the Viridian base going?"

"Last time I checked, the Dimensional Laser and all of the other machines you were working on were being transported over here fairly easily. The ships should be somewhere near New Bark Town by now."

"Excellent. Does that include the robots that I found among your failed missions?"

"I said '_all of the other machines'_, didn't I?"

"You did." Giovanni smiled, "I just like reminding you about the failed missions."

The other Giovanni gritted his teeth in pure disgust. All that this man ever did was bash and humiliate him. This had to have been his plan from the beginning. He was never really nice to anyone. He just seemed to tolerate some people more than others. The silly little grin on his face was one of unadulterated and completely obsessed malice. He could barely stand it.

"Alrighty, then." The counterpart finally announced, "Let's unload this ship and get back to work! Contact whatever rockets are already stationed at this base, and have them come help us out."

* * *

Meanwhile, in a small office room in the back of the ship, Jessie and James were concentrating on two small sheets of paper. Each partner held their own sheet, and it was facing them so that the other could not see what they had written on it.

There was tension in the air.

"Alright…" Jessie began, "Well, who did you put as #4?"

James held his paper up slightly. "Uh… Jessiebelle."

"Jessiebelle?! Why on Earth is she your #4?!"

"Well…" James rubbed the back of his neck in a nervous fashion, "I mean, I don't know a lot of people, and she may annoy/frighten me, but that doesn't mean I want her _to die_!"

Jessie put her hands on her hips. "I don't think you're really getting the purpose of this exercise, James! The point is to write down the names of people _we like_!"

"Well, who do you have on your list, Jessie?"

Jessie sweatdropped for a moment and gave her list a second stare. Her sheet of paper was entirely empty.

At that moment, the door to the office crept open, and Meowth walked into the room. As soon as he entered, he noticed something was off. He looked at the strange sight of his two partners on opposite sides of the small room, reading a single piece of notebook paper.

"What are you two doin'?" the cat asked.

"We're writing down the names of people that we want to ask the new boss to spare when he takes over this dimension." James explained, "We're just having some difficulty thinking of people we like."

Meowth sighed. "Is dat _really_ necessary?"

"Oh, I think so!" Jessie said, "In fact, I'm the one who came up with this brilliant idea! The new boss doesn't exactly seem to let… physical things get in his way when he tries to conquer something."

James nodded solemnly. "He's scary."

Meowth put a paw beneath his chin. He remembered the attack on Goldenrod and shivered a little bit. "Ya know what? For da first time in your life, you two might be onta somethin'…" He looked at Jessie carefully. Then his eyes switched to James. Then they finally came to rest in the center of the room on a large desk, the desk that still held Misty's pokéballs. "Can I have a sheet of paper too?"

"I don't like this anymore!" James began to whine, "This is terrifying!"

"Oh, will you cut it out!" Jessie argued, "You saw the twerps get their butts kicked out there! If we don't keep our cool and go along with the new boss' plan, then we'll end up like the twerpette trapped in the brig! Trust me, we're finally on the winning team this time."

"But that's what I'm afraid of!" James came again, "When _this_ boss wins, things end horribly! I miss the old boss!"

"Da old boss has been strangely quiet lately." Meowth commented, "You would imagine dat he would at least be designing a few parts of da plan…"

A huge voice interrupted the trio by booming over the ship's intercom. "Attention, all troops! You may now begin the unloading procedure for your deck!"

Jessie and James looked at each other curiosly. What was their unloading procedure again?

"Don't bother." Meowth said, "I actually just got back from retrieving our unloading assignment."

The duo switched their glance to him.

"We're in charge of prisoner transport."

* * *

"Aw! Come on!" Crystal moaned, "You know… He's kind of short? He wears glasses and red gloves? He's got that… that… weird… hat thing?"

May looked at the bluenette with a raised eyebrow, and Drew and Max did the same. No one was quite sure what was going on. One minute the trio was getting kicked out of a restaurant, and the next they were sitting on a city bench being interrogated by a random group of teenagers.

"Oh, come on!" Crystal moaned again, "His name is Ruby! I swear you both have a HUGE crush on each other!"

"I'm… sorry…" May began, "But I don't know a Ruby…"

"That's right!" Yellow interjected, "She said her name is May! So, maybe Ruby's name isn't actually Ruby here!"

"Is… Is this a prank or something?" asked Max.

"May doesn't have a crush on anybody!" Drew added, "Right, May?"

May blushed a little bit. "No! No! Of course not! Or… well… at least not on this Ruby guy! I have no idea what you people are talking about!"

"Wait." Drew came again, "_Only_ not on Ruby? Then who-"

"Well, then," came Gold's voice as he shuffled his way to the front of the crowed, "Let me introduce you to the man of your dreams!" He extended a hand out to the girl and gave a charming grin. "The name's Gold, and I'm-"

"Going to back off right now." Drew finished for him with a glare.

Gold looked at the other boy and sweatdropped a little bit. "Come on…" he chuckled nervously, "There's plenty of Sapphire to go around."

"I'm going to count to three." He continued.

"Uh… Don't worry, guys." May interrupted, "Gold, you don't really seem my type…"

"We'll see if we can change that," he added with a wink.

"Anyway…" Crystal continued with an angry growl, "You're telling me that you've never met the guy I just described?"

May thought about it for only a second longer before shrugging and admitting defeat. "Sorry, but I can't say I have."

"She's so articulate…" Silver noted, "Are we sure this is supposed to be Sapphire?"

"It must be." Platinum assured, "Their outfits and overall body build are remarkably similar."

Pearl leaned in close to the girl, and May responded by nervously leaning back a bit with an awkward grin.

Max had to stop himself from laughing at the scene. "I still say this is some kind of prank."

"She's missing the fangs." Pearl concluded, "But that's hardly a reason to assume that she isn't a counterpart."

"Okay…" May finally said, "What is going on? What's a counterpart? What do you guys want with me? Why have you been quizzing me on my love life? And…" she paused a minute as she tilted her head to the side to see past Pearl and directly at Platinum. "Would you by any chance be related to a coordinator named Dawn?"

"Um… excuse me?" she asked.

"Okay, we've gotten WAAAY off topic!" Yellow reminded everybody, "May, we originally approached you and your friends because you look like someone we know, but what we would really like to know is what decimated half of Goldenrod."

"Oh! Didn't you hear?" she asked, "There was a huge invasion of Team Rocket airships!"

"THERE WAS A WHAT?!" the dex holders cried.

May nodded her head. "Yeah, they were here searching for a Pokémon named Mewtwo."

The teens froze when they heard that name.

"You've probably never heard of that Pokémon, but it-"

"Oh, we've heard of the Pokémon." Gold assured her, earning him another slap in the back of the head from Crystal.

That caused all three of the Hoennites to perk up.

"You have?" Max asked, "How is that possible?"

"Oh, that's just Gold!" Crystal assured as she covered his mouth, "He doesn't really know what he's saying most of the time!"

"Yeah!" Diamond added in an unconvincing voice, "I've never heard of a Mewtwo. Have you, Pearl?"

"Nope. Never." The boy answered, "I don't really even care for psychic types."

"Wait! We never told you it was a psychic type!" Drew jumped in.

Platinum facepalmed.

"Well, don't look at me." Charon said with a shrug, "I've genuinely never heard of it, and I'm a scientist!"

"The only other people that could know about Mewtwo…" Drew began as he pulled out a pokéball.

"ARE PEOPLE FROM TEAM ROCKET!" Max finished.

The dex holders all gasped at once as they realized what was going on.

"Oh! No, no, no!" Yellow laughed, waving her hands in front of herself, "You've got it all wrong. This is just a huge misunderstanding!"

"Sure it is." Drew taunted, eyes narrowing, "I had my suspicions about you bunch from the beginning. You've got some nerve attacking us here right after your stupid armada destroyed half of the city!"

Gold reached for his pokéball as well. "Hey, pretty boy. Don't do anything hasty."

"Okay, Drew!" May intervened with a nervous laugh, "Let's not have any of that! There's another perfectly logical explanation as to how these eight know about Mewtwo."

"And what's that?"

The young coordinator turned to the travelers with a smile. "Obviously, you guys are friends of Ash's, right?"

The dex holders did not know how to respond to that. Most of them just stood there quietly.

"Well, this is new." Pearl muttered.

"You know?" May continued, "The Pokémon trainer? Black hair? Red cap? Best friends with a pikachu?"

Yellow's eyes grew wide. "Oh… My… Gosh…"

"We've definitely got some talking to do." Silver quipped.

* * *

Misty took her hair out of its ponytail and ruffled it up as much as she could. She had heard (and felt) the ship land earlier, and she knew it was only a matter of time until someone showed up to escort her to the new base they were at. The only problem was that she did not look like a prisoner. She wanted to make sure that she seemed as dirty, tired, and desperate as possible so as to not arouse any suspicion. A normal prisoner would look like they had been desperately trying to escape since they had been captured. A prisoner that had already found her solution, however, would look perfectly in order. Misty did not want any of the rockets to know that she had reactivated the tracking button.

Once she was content with her new hairdo, she kicked some dirt up from the floor and lunged into it as much as she could.

"Ugh…" she moaned to herself, "This is disgusting."

The dust particles got all over her face and clothing, causing her to cough a bit. She was sure that this would be convincing for the guards, but from a personal standpoint, the cough was just annoying.

"Alright…" She muttered as she leaned back up against the wall, "Now for the final piece."

She knelt down a bit and picked the tracking button back off of the floor. After turning it over in her hands a few times to ensure that it was still on, Misty dropped it in her shirt. It felt awkward, and she did not usually carry things that way, but her backpack had been confiscated from her and she was not sure if the rockets would be searching her pockets again. That was her safest bet. It would lead Ash right to her.

She did not have any more time to think about it, though, because only seconds later, the doors to her chamber opened, and three pairs of footsteps began coming her way.

"Magneton." Chimed the Pokémon that were guarding her cell.

Misty leaned up against the wall again in an attempt to look overly tired. She could not even begin to imagine what kind of ruthless rocket solider was about to show up and manhandle her from one cage to another.

She closed her eyes.

"Hey, Twerpette… Twerpette, are you still alive in there?"

What? Misty jutted her eyes open as fast as she could. Could it be? Yes! Jessie, James, and Meowth stood at the cell door with a pair of handcuffs and concerned looks on their faces.

"You three?!" she asked in awe, "Again?!"

"Um… Right…" Jessie began, "What was the routine again?"

"It's been so long since we had a prisoner… I tink I forgot…" Meowth remarked

James stepped up to the cage. "I remember my lines." He cleared his throat with a brusque cough and proceeded. "Hello, sir or madam. I am James from Team Rocket, and these are my associates…"

Misty rolled her eyes and sighed.

He continued. "We are here because it is our criminal duty to have you transported from-"

"I GET THE IDEA!" the girl shouted, "AND I ALREADY KNOW YOU, JAMES!"

The rocket sweatdropped and back away a bit.

"Alright, look," Jessie said, "The point is that we've got to move you to a new cell, and we can't have any of your twerpy tricks on this one, okay?"

Misty's eyes narrowed at the trio. "Why should I help you three? You've never caused me anything but trouble, and on top of that, you _work for_ the guy the locked me in this thing!"

"Look… our relationship is a little… awkward…" Meowth began.

"Yeah, we never wanted to lock you up." James agreed, "We just wanted the pikachu."

"Then let me out of here!" she cried.

"And be murdered by the boss?" laughed Jessie, "I don't think so, little missy!"

Meowth dug into James' pocket and pulled out a key. "Here. Take dis." He offered, as he tossed the key to Misty.

She caught it with both hands and looked back at the cat with a slight head tilt.

"It won't get ya outta your cell." Meowth explained, "But it'll get dose shackles off of your arms."

"And after you've taken care of that, put these on." Jessie added, throwing the handcuffs at her feet.

Misty scowled. For a minute there, she thought the trio was helping her.

Jessie, James, and Meowth just stood there awkwardly, waiting for Misty to follow orders.

She sighed. "I guess there's no fighting it."

Misty reached the key around with her right hand and unlocked the shackle that had been binding her to the wall. The metal on her wrist snapped open, and she lead out a relieved breath when she could feel the cool air touching her skin there again.

The rockets watched.

As Misty reached around to her left hand, she tried to make some small talk.

"So… I knew you guys were crooked, but this is a new low for you."

The trio was surprised by that one. They blinked a few times in confusion.

"Umm… What are you talking about?" James asked.

"Yeah, we're not the ones that reduced Goldenrod to rubble." Jessie defended, "We were in the ship the whole time."

"No. Not Goldenrod…" Misty continued, as she opened up her final shackle and stood up to stretch a bit, "I'm talking about me. Don't you three think that what you're doing here is a little darker than usual?"

"I don't have any idea what you're talking about." James came again.

"Yeah, we're just bringin' ya to the Ilex Forest base." Meowth concluded, "Da boss is usin' you ta assure dat dose other pesky twerps don't bother us until we've left dis dimension."

Misty gave Meowth a condescending smile. "Is that _really_ what you three think is going to happen?"

"Well… of course…" Jessie defended, "What else is there?"

Misty began to put on the handcuffs. She wrapped her arms around her back and strapped her left hand in first. "He isn't keeping his promise to stay away from our dimension. So, what makes you think he'll keep the promise about releasing me before he leaves?"

"What are you getting at?" Jessie pried.

Misty strapped her right hand in. "You three are bringing me to my execution."

"WHAT?!" the three shouted in fear and shock.

Misty delicately leaned up against the cell bars with her arms still strapped tightly behind her back. "That's right." She began, "He may not do it immediately, because he needs me to keep Ash and Red off of his tail, but as soon as his 'treaty' with them is broken or as soon as your army is ready to go, I become expendable."

"He… He wouldn't…" James tried.

"He wouldn't?" Misty fought back, "Please. Give me a break. He could have killed me the moment his stupid electirizer knocked me out! He has done so many crooked and screwed up things since he got here that it would only be one step forward! So feel free to take me to the new base, but remember that you are leading a little teenage girl to her death! Let that rest on your conscience."

The rockets were frozen in fear. They did not know what to think. They had honestly not considered that. Were they about to kill off _a teenage girl_? One they _knew personally_, no less?

"Oh… So… what's the big deal?" Jessie tried, "We're Team Rocket… We're the villains… We're supposed to stand up for the bad…"

"Well, maybe, Jessie, but I've never wanted to _kill_ the little twerps!" James argued, "I just wanted to steal pikachu, and, you know, maybe hurt them a little bit…"

"James, you've thrown _bombs_ at them before!"

"But that was before we traveled with them through all those places, saw all those Pokémon, teamed up a few times, and got to watch them grow up, Jessie! I just can't do it. I hate them, but it's a good kind of hate. It wouldn't be right if they just died!"

"You aren't making any sense, James!" she protested, "How can you hate someone but not hate them at the same time?!"

"I just do, okay?!"

"Umm… Hello?" Misty tried.

"Come on, don't you remember the time that we helped each other escape the S.S. Anne?" he asked.

"Well, what about the time that that twerpette won that doll set that was rightfully mine?!" she countered.

"Guys?" Misty tried again.

"What about da time dat you guys worked togeder to save me and Pikachu from Butch and Cassidy?" Meowth added.

"Hold on!" Jessie said, "You're on his side too?"

"Well, maybe a little…" Meowth admitted, "I mean, what would happen to da show if we killed off da twerps?"

"I'M SO SCARED, JESSIE!" James finally cried at the top of his lungs as he fell on his knees and began to tear up, "The new boss is so terrifying and cruel, and every time we win a round things just get scarier! I don't want to be in Team Rocket any more!"

Jessie turned red in embarrassment at her partner. "Oh, come on, now!" she yelled back, "Do you even remember all the failures we had to go through to get these promotions?!"

"I'M SCARED TOO!" Meowth began to cry along with James.

"Oh, please!" Jessie continued, "You're both acting like babies! Think about all the trouble that those twerps have caused us! We can kill this!" she motioned at Misty, but after a quick glance in the girl's direction, she noticed that Misty was starting to tear up too.

"I've been keeping the time…" Misty muttered, "It's roughly 25 hours now. If Ash can't find me in 25 hours, I'm dead…"

Now, Jessie began to cry. She noticed a single trickle of water running down her cheek. She could not go through with it, but she could not release Misty either. Either answer would be devastating.

So, the rocket simply picked up her radio and dialed in Giovanni's line. "Boss, we can't manage the prisoner. Send somebody else."

* * *

Professor Oak's head was in a small hatch on the bottom of the trading machine that he had gotten earlier. Blue, Green, Gary, Brock, and Tracey were gathered around him to help in any way they could. "Alright," he announced, "I'm gonna need those pliers again."

"Pliers." Blue said, as he handed the man the tool he needed.

Professor Oak took the pliers and slid them under the machine to alter something. No one could really see what he was doing, but the machine made some funny noises when the professor messed with it.

No one was paying attention when Red opened the front door to the lab and just casually walked up behind the group.

"Alright, I need a flame now." The professor asked.

"Got it." Said Gary, as he handed a lighter to his grandpa.

Red did not even ask what was going on. He just watched in silence.

"Alright," came Oak's voice, "I need a paperclip."

"A paperclip?" Tracey asked.

"That's not really something you keep in a tool box." Green added.

"Uh… I think I've got one in my pocket." Red offered, handing a paperclip out to Brock, who in turn handed it to Professor Oak.

"Thanks." The old man said.

It took a few seconds, but suddenly it hit everyone that Red was back in the room!

"Wait! Red!" Brock shouted in surprise.

"Red!" Gary cheered.

"Red!" Blue and Green said at once.

"Oh! Red!" Tracey added last.

"Red?" came Professor Oak's voice from underneath the machine, "Is Red back again?"

"Yes, Red is back." Said Green with a growl, "And I'm _still_ angry at you!"

"It's alright!" Red defended, putting his hands up, "You have a right to be! This whole situation is my fault, and I've been kind of a jerk to Ash since we met him!"

Everyone looked at him with amazed and curious expressions. Their attention had officially been diverted.

"What?" asked Professor Oak. He was not able to hear well from underneath the machine.

"Yeah," Red confirmed, "I've been a jerk. At first, I started out trying to make friends with Ash, but I don't take competition well. Everything devolved into either a power struggle or me trying to protect him from Giovanni, but the point is that I realize I shouldn't have been competing, and it was not my place to protect him either."

"Well, you know, Red, it wasn't entirely your fault." Green chipped in, "I mean, you had no way of knowing that kicking Giovanni into that portal would have landed him here."

"Yeah, and I'm sure you had the right _intentions_ when you were trying to protect us." Brock added, "I've spent a better part of my childhood protecting Ash."

"Hey!" Red argued, "This isn't about what I _didn't_ do wrong or what could have happened if I had more information. This is me telling you that I accept responsibility for however this thing ends. Let's just make sure it ends well!

"Alright, I need a screwdriver!" Professor Oak asked.

"Wait. Hold up." Blue interrupted, "Why the sudden change of heart, Red? What the heck stirred this sudden rush of acceptance and responsibility?"

The young trainer smiled in thanks for the friends that had helped him figure this one out. "I had some Chinese food." He said.

The trainers all just looked at each other for a few moments.

"Okay! I'll take it!" Green admitted, "Welcome back, Red!"

"Can someone _PLEASE_ hand me a screwdriver?" the professor asked.

"And the best part?" Red continued, "I got Lance on board to help us rescue Ash and Misty."

That was the final straw for the team. They welcomed Red back with cheers and praises. Shortly after, Blue took the time to explain to him that they were modifying the trading machine to transfer pokéballs and fix the level cap issue. Red was ecstatic about the idea, and they worked on the modifications for the next several minutes.

* * *

"Alright…" Yellow sighed, "So, do we all have our stories straight?"

Drew looked back at the girl with an expression that only showed an annoyed disbelief in what he had heard. "_An alternate dimension_?"

"Exactly."

"You expect us to believe that you came from an alternate dimension?"

"Well, doesn't the story sound plausible?" Crystal asked.

"They _do _have some decent evidence." Max conceded.

"But it's totally impossible." Drew shot back.

"You told us that you started a trainer riot against an armada of airships that were sent to a city to capture a single psychic Pokémon." Silver responded, "The door swings both ways."

"So, are we just supposed to trust each other?" Drew asked.

"Well, I trust them." May assured.

Drew and Max both looked at her in disbelief. "Why?"

"Well, it kind of makes sense." She explained, "We've seen some weird stuff in the past, but today has just been full of them. The Rocket armada? The Ash lookalike? The see-through pokéball with an aerodactyl in it? The Dawn doppleganger?" she motioned to Platinum. "Wouldn't it kind of make sense if all of the weirdness just came from one place?"

"That's not exactly your best logic, sis." Max commented.

"Well, that's not all!" Gold butted in, "That also explains how we know about Mewtwo and your friend, Ash! We have both of them in our world too… kind of."

"There are _a lot_ of easier explanations for that." Drew said.

"Look, you can believe us if you want." Pearl said, "But our story is true, and you're the best lead we have to finding our friends!"

"You know…" May mused for a moment, "In the middle of that riot last night, there was a point when I thought I saw Ash being carried away in a car by a charizard."

"Are… Are you serious?" asked Diamond, "Anything else?"

Charon chuckled a little bit. "Oh, don't you children get it?"

"Get what?" Silver asked.

"There was a riot last night due to a Team Rocket attack more brutal than anything that this dimension has ever seen?" Charon explained, "Who's going to want to clean up that mess?"

"Red!" Yellow cried.

"BINGO!" Charon continued, "You annoying little pests always seem to be where the bad guys are! It's clear to me that if we find Giovanni, we can find all of your little friends."

"Oh no!" May interrupted, "You don't think that Ash and _my _friends are somehow involved in this, do you?"

Crystal thought about that one. "I… suppose it's quite possible…"

"If Ash is in trouble, I want in!" May demanded.

"But May!" Drew complained, "We have ribbons to earn! We can't just-"

"I want in too!" Max said.

Drew sighed. "Okay. I guess I don't have a choice."

"Alright!" Yellow cheered with a smile, "Glad to have you on board! We'll need all the help we can get!"

"But just to be clear," Drew began, "I still don't like that yellow guy."

"Hey, back at ya, buddy!" said Gold.

"But, Yellow, how do we find Team Rocket?" Silver asked.

"Easy… We have Giovanni's son."

* * *

Ash and Tobias were still waiting around outside the breakfast diner that they eaten at. Ash was pacing nervously, unable to hold still, and Tobias was sitting down on a bench with Pikachu. Every few minutes or so, Ash would look back at the pokétch that was tracking Giovanni. The target was moving fairly fast, so they had agreed to wait until it had settled to go and find Misty. Ash didn't know how the signal had started again after going dead a while back, but he thanked Arcues for it. Until now, he had simply suspected that Giovanni went back to the Viridian hideout.

This waiting game lasted for quite a few minutes, and no one spoke in it. Ash was too focused on the goal at hand, Tobias was respecting the silence, and Pikachu did not usually speak unless it was something important anyway.

After enough time had passed, though, Ash stopped his pacing. He eyed the pokétch map with a smile and nodded at Tobias.

"We got something?" the older trainer asked.

Ash let out a huge grin. "It stopped in Ilex Forest!"

Tobias chuckled at that. "Now, that's a big place. Think they have a base there?"

Ash's eyes narrowed on the watch. "Definitely."

"Alright." Tobias said, tossing his pokégear at Ash, "Now, give your friends a call, and let's see if you can make up before we go through with this crazy plan."

Ash honestly gave it a shot, but Brock's pokégear was off at the moment, Misty's was useless, and he did not know the number for Red, Green, or Blue. They decided to leave a message and go after Team Rocket on their own. Things had not worked out well for Ash the last time he tried this, but this time, he had a friend with him… and a darkrai.

The raven-haired trainer gave a smile full of confidence and bravery as prepared to embark on another adventure. "Alright, Tobias, here's the plan…"

* * *

Yellow huddled up with her teammates to prepare for Team Rocket. "Okay, guys, here's the plan…"

* * *

As Tracey and Professor Oak worked on some wiring underneath the trading machine, Red got a phone call from Lance to prepare for their attack. "Now listen, carefully, here's the plan…"

* * *

Giovanni smiled as the final plane came in, carrying the cargo needed for the invasion. "Here's the plan…"

* * *

**More AN: Hm... I really don't know what to put down here this time... Oh! The Team Rocket trio! I hope I captured their personalities well. I've always seen them as semi-bad guys, if that makes any sense? One could argue that they are really just victims of circumstance, but even if not, they certainly aren't cold blooded killers. They are not used to serious consequences like death being brought into a situation, and they have gone as far as to save Ash's life in the past. In the end, when push comes to shove, I think they actually kind of like the constant back and forth they have with "the twerps." When faced with the situation depicted here of them having to basically sentence one of them to death at the hands of a leader more cynical than anyone they know, they can't do it. Jessie, James, and Meowth signed up to work for Anime Giovanni not Manga Giovanni. Manga Giovanni is too harsh for them to follow.  
Whaaaaat could happen neeeeeexxxtt?**


	19. Round 19: The Expedition Begins

**Author's Note: So, yeah, I apologize if this seems anticlimactic after the last round, but I've got to put a few plot points in motion today and make sure that I cover any plot _holes_ that might arise. Some really good action will come with the next round, I promise, but I can't just switch to everyone knocking down Team Rocket's base. I need prep first. I need to explain how they get ready, how they get there, why certain people get there first, etc. I hope you understand. Oh! Btw, I've also got some special characters to introduce you to this round! Even though their side plot seems meaningless at the moment, I hope you enjoy...**

**Une version française de cette histoire est disponible ici: ****Absolette**.  


**Ship Warning: Pokeshipping, MangaQuestshipping, and Franticshipping.  
**

******I do not own or have any rights to any part of the Pokemon franchise whatsoever. **

* * *

**Location: Sinnoh Battle Frontier- Mangaverse**

**Invasion Countdown: 24 hours 54 minutes**

The stadium bleachers were filled with an enthusiastic audience, as people filed in and out of every row cheering, shouting, and talking to their neighbors about the most recent match. The screen above the battlefield had a countdown timer on it that had just reached the five-minute mark.

"Ladies and gentlemen," came a loud echoing voice, "we here at the Battle Frontier would like to remind you that while we thank you for your charitable donations to this rare event, we do not permit the use of flash photography or blow horns while Pokémon battles are underway. As you return to your seats, please remember to leave such items in your bags, purses, or pockets!"

"Excuse me! Pardon me! Watch your step!" came the voice of a lone teenage boy as he traveled down the isle carrying a box of nachos, a bottle of water, and a large cherry soda. Most people were headed back to their seats at this point, but traffic still seemed to be fighting him somehow.

He scanned the seat numbers on each row that he passed in a desperate attempt to find his spot. He couldn't shake the fear that someone was going to bump into him and knock the soda and/or nachos all over his outfit. The dripping greasiness of the nachos was disgusting enough when it _wasn't _on his shirt, and the soda… Well, actually, the cherry soda was red and his outfit was red so it was unlikely anyone would notice the difference, but it would still feel unbearable for the rest of the tournament! The teen pushed his glasses back up to his eyes before giving one more look around the bleachers.

"RUBY!" came a voice to his forward left. The voice was almost lost in the crowd, but it had just enough distinction in it for him to pinpoint its location.

A young teenage girl in a blue outfit with her brown hair partly covered by a neckerchief was just barely visible through the thick crowd. She stood as tall as she could in the seating area with her gloved hands waving frantically for the boy.

"Sapphire!" he said with a smile as he stumbled his way over to her. It took him a little while, but he was eventually able to survive the crowd and join his friend in the seat she was saving.

"How much was it?" she asked as he handed her the nachos and soda.

"Fifteen dollars."

Sapphire nearly did a spit take. "Fifteen dollars for nachos and two drinks?!"

"Well, it _is_ a charity event…" he remarked.

"Well, you shouldn't let that be an excuse for them to rip you off!" she came back, hands on hips.

Ruby rolled his eyes in response and opened his water bottle to take a sip. "Look, I already paid for it. Just enjoy it. I got the nachos because I know you like them. Same with the soda."

Sapphire just gave a short sighed and leaned down to dig through the bag she had brought with her.

"What are you doing?" Ruby asked.

"Findin' some money t' pay you back."

"Oh!" the boy chuckled as he put his hand on her shoulder, "Don't be silly. It's all on me."

Sapphire looked back up at him with a raised eyebrow. Ruby was smiling at her. He was serious.

She smiled back. "Ooooh… I see what's goin' on!"

The boy's smile faded. "Huh? What?"

"You know when I said 'We should go on a date sometime.' I meant an actual date, right?"

"What?! What are you talking about? This _is _an actual date!"

"Nuh-uh!" the trainer responded with a wave of her finger, "This doesn't count."

"How the heck doesn't it count?! You love Pokémon battles!"

"Well, 1. I didn't know it was s'pposed to be a date 'til now. Both people have to know it's a date for it to be a date."

"Oh, come on…"

"2. The only reason we're at this tournament in the first place is 'cause we got to Sinnoh too late to meet our seniors in Veilstone, and now we don't know where them OR Team Rocket are."

"Well, I-"

"And 3. Emerald is with us."

"But he's actually _in_ the tournament!" Ruby defended, "He can't count as being with us if we're up here and he's down there!"

"Nope." She refused, "He's still with us. If ya want to get me off your back about goin' on a date, then you'll have to try harder." And with that, the girl leaned back and began to sip her soda in victory.

"Uuuggghh…"Ruby sighed as he slouched over and covered his face with both hands. His feelings for Sapphire were… confusing. He really liked her. He might have even _loved_ her, but being _with_ her in a _relationship_ just felt… weird. It wasn't something that the boy liked dealing with.

Sapphire sat her drink down for a moment and grabbed one of Ruby's hands with her own, instantly getting the boy's attention. "Ya know…" she began, her eyes narrowing, "Maybe we could still count it as a date if we did something really special."

Ruby did not respond. He was not quite sure what she was getting at.

Sapphire giggled, and her head began to move closer to Ruby's. She puckered her lips out. The boy froze for a moment. He didn't really know what to think, but he didn't have time to do much about it. His head almost instinctually moved closer to her's as well.

"AND WE'RE BACK!" the announcer cried, effectively destroying any moment that the two were having.

Both dex holders jumped out of place when they heard the loud voice. Ruby was literally sweating. Sapphire scowled.

"And up next we have a go-getter all the way from Hoenn!" continued the voice, "This trainer is the champion of his home region's very own Battle Frontier! Ladies and gentlemen, give a warm welcome to Emerald!"

The crowd went wild as a short boy with a long sleeved green shirt and black shorts stepped out on the field, bowing to the audience.

"Hey! That's Emerald!" Ruby pointed from his seat in an attempt to change the subject. Surprisingly, it worked.

"YEEEAAAH! GO EMERALD!" Sapphire cheered, "KICK HIS BUTT!"

The trainer bowed to his two friends from the battlefield. His big blonde hair made a sweeping motion as he leaned forward, and the jewel on his forehead glistened in the sun. Emerald rolled up his sleeves so his arms were visible, and he held a pokéball up in the air. The crowd roared. This was going to be fun.

"And his opponent!" the announcer shouted again, "From the even-farther-away region of Unova, with Pokémon as unique as his training style and as legendary as his adventures…" he paused for a moment as though he were reading something, "…And… uh… Sponsored by the BW Agency… We have Black!"

The crowd went insane again, but Emerald's eyes just widened in shock and subsequently darted to the other side of the field. "What?"

Ruby and Sapphire's eyes did the same. "What?"

Then from the dark tunnel directly across from Emerald, a brown haired trainer with a red and white baseball cap casually walked onto the grass. He sported a blue jacket and a confident smile as he stepped into the sunlight. "Emerald. Long time, no see."

* * *

For the large city that it was, Goldenrod did not have a very high crime rate. Issues popped up here and there, but ultimately, the city prison just wasn't busy very often. Today was an obvious exception. Today, the Goldenrod Prison was filling up remarkably fast due to the continuous flow of rockets that had been captured and arrested during the "Rocket Raid" (as the media was calling it). Due to the overflow of work, some common protocol had been ignored. For instance, unusually large numbers of prisoners were being assigned to single cells, different genders were not being separated properly, and even the prison security was not as tight as it normally was. Things in Goldenrod Prison were louder, rowdier, and busier than ever, but in the far left wing of the jail, if one could hear past all the screaming and shouting, you could just barely make out the sound of an old harmonica.

The noise was coming from one particular rocket agent named Butch who was lying on a bench, stomach up, in his jail cell, trying to pass some time with the instrument. His green hair was just barely covering his eyes as he slurred the tune a little bit to add some feeling to his music.

"Oh, will you just knock it off already?" came a plea from his partner, Cassidy, "You've been playing that thing for over an hour now!"

Butch picked his head up slightly and brushed his hair out of the way to look his friend in the eyes. She was glaring at him through her dark violet pupils. Her lips were bent in a small arc about her face but not a full-fledged frown. She was clearly ticked.

"I don't know what you're so upset about." He moaned, "The guy in cell #224 has been whinin' about his chatot for the past hour. You aint tryin' to shut him up."

"That's because I'm not within strangling distance of him!" she growled back.

Butch sweatdropped from that. Maybe it _was_ a good idea to just shut up.

"I mean, seriously…" Cassidy continued, "First our battleship gets stormed by an army of cops. Then, they put us in these horrendous black and white striped outfits. And, now, I have to hear you spitting on that thing for the next twelve hours? This is cruel and unusual punishment!"

"Hey!" he shot back, "First of all, my music is majestic! But, secondly, if you'd have just stuck with the safety protocol we were given in the lecture, then maybe we could have escaped before that Stun Spore hit us!"

Cassidy let out a moan as she delicately reached for a lock of her long blonde hair. "Those spores are _still_ in my hair!" she pouted, "Out of all eight times that I've been in prison, this has got to be the worst!"

"If I ever see an Officer Jenny again, it will be too soon." Butch concurred.

"Alright!" came a high, authoritative voice from the front of the cell, "I'm looking for Cassidy and Botch!"

Both rockets immediately lunged toward the bars of their cell to find Officer Jenny standing just out of reaching distance with a clipboard and megaphone.

"What is it, officer?" Cassidy asked hopefully, "Has our bail been paid?"

"The name's actually Butch, but if you're about to let us out of here, you can call me whatever you want!" her partner added.

Jenny did not respond, but instead she simply turned around to reveal Yellow, Gold, Crystal, Platinum, and Charon. "Are these the two you were looking for, Mr. Charon?"

The scientist stared at the two for several minutes before leaning over to Yellow slightly. "Are these the two we're looking for?" he whispered.

"I don't know." She shot back, "May just said they'd look like idiots and we'd know them when we saw them."

Charon gave them one last glance. Yeah, they looked enough like idiots for it to work. "Yes ma'am." He finally said to the officer, "I wasn't sure at first, but there is no doubt of the sheer evil in their eyes."

"Alright," Jenny replied, looking at her wristwatch, "I can give you thirty minutes with them, and I'll be right here to monitor the whole thing." She then knelt down a little bit to look Crystal in the eyes. "On a personal note, I am_ so sorry_ about what these maniacs did to your grandmother."

"I... It's fine…" Crystal murmured, bending her head down into her arms, "…I know Grammy is in a better place…"

Butch and Cassidy both stood behind bars in shock as Crystal began to cry into her shirtsleeve. Neither knew what to say, so they just watched the girl's charade unfold.

Crystal's false weeps only grew louder and more profound the more she muffled them in her arms, and Gold jumped in by patting her on the back reassuringly. "There, there, Sis. The bad people are locked away now. They won't hurt anyone anymore."

Gold's kind words were followed by mumbles of agreement and regret from the other dex holders until the two rocket agents finally caught on to what was going on.

"Wait a minute! Hold on!" Cassidy shouted, "We never killed anyone's grandmother last night!"

"Yeah! That's right!" Butch added, "In fact, I don't think we were able to kill anyo-"

"You know," Charon interrupted, looking at Officer Jenny with a completely straight face, "I only came here to make closure with these two, but all this talk about my wife has put more stress on me than I imagined. Could I trouble you to go get me a cup of coffee?"

"I'm sorry," Jenny responded, "but we are required by Police Code 7-8-249.B to listen in on _all_ prisoner visitations. I'm afraid I can't leave you alone with them."

Platinum smiled from the back of the group. They could not have the police finding out that they were from another dimension _or_ that the Rocket boss was from another dimension. Time to initiate phase 2 of the plan. She knocked on the wall behind her three times, prompting the Hoenn team to enter the room.

May, Drew, and Max walked right up to the group, ushered by an armored guard. They did not know if turning themselves in like this was going to be a good thing or a bad thing, but they were relying on the hope that Yellow knew what she was doing. She had made this plan.

"Excuse me, Officer." The guard interrupted, "But these three claim to be the group that started the trainer riots last night. I believe you wanted to speak with them?"

Jenny took a quick look at the kids and recognized them immediately. So did Cassidy and Butch.

"Ah, yes!" She began, "I _was_ looking for you three! You've got a lot of-"

"Hey!" Butch shouted, "Those two brats are the same brats that screwed up our pokéball swiping plot!"

Jenny's attention was brought back around to the prisoners. "You _know_ these children?"

"Well, speak for yourself." Cassidy insisted, "I only remember _one_ pokéball swiping plot standing a chance anyway."

Butch was all over that. "Oh, seriously? We're gonna have _this_ argument again? I'm tellin' ya, Jessie and I were all over that plan until the twerps showed up! It's you and James that had it all wrong!"

"Now you're just being ridiculous!" She shot back, "While I'll normally agree that James' plans are _very _poorly thought out, I was the brains behind that one, which made it perfect!"

They continued to argue back and forth, but Jenny quickly lost interest and turned her attention back to the Hoenn group. "So, you have had involvement with Team Rocket before, huh?"

The three exchanged glances before simply nodding their heads in unison, and, despite all expectations, a smile came across Officer Jenny's face. "Oh! That's so great to hear! You see, I was looking for you three because of what a marvelous job you did rallying that crowd yesterday, and I was hoping that I could pick your brains for any intel that you might have gathered through the whole experience! I'm required to record a full rundown of events when big city disasters like that happen! Do you mind?"

"Um… Sure." Drew offered.

"We know lots of stuff about Team Rocket!" Max added.

"But we'll have to be quick about it!" May jumped in, "We've actually got somewhere to be in a few minutes. So, if we could talk to you now, that would be great!"

Jenny looked back at the dex holders that were still standing in front of the bickering Team Rocket duo. Then, she looked at the guard that had brought the Hoenn team in. "Uh… Laurence, could you…"

"Sorry, officer," He apologized, "but I've got inmates that I've got to attend to after this. We're really overbooked today."

Jenny looked back at the dex holders one last time, and she saw the sad and innocent faces that each had, complete with a story about a murdered grandmother. Then, she looked at the room's security camera. Just a few minutes couldn't hurt, right?

"Don't leave." She ordered Charon, "I'll be right back."

And with that the officer was walking back to her office with the three Hoennites discussing Team Rocket. The dex holders were left completely alone with Cassidy and Butch.

…who were still arguing.

"You can't blame _me_ for that!" Butch argued, "I thought they were just playing a children's card game!"

"Well, be that as it may, it still proves that you're a sissy!" Cassidy shot back.

"Should I even bring up the water tower incident?"

"Leave my mother out of this one, you-"

"Hey!" Yellow finally interrupted, "Are you two Cassidy and Biff?"

"The name's Butch, not Biff!" the man corrected.

"And you kids are full of it!" Cassidy returned, "We didn't kill your grandmother."

"We know." Yellow assured, "None of us are siblings," she pointed to Charon, "And he is not our grandfather."

"And thank goodness for that." Gold added.

"We just needed an excuse to get to visit some higher up Rocket members in prison." She continued, "Some friends of ours mentioned you. So, we thought we'd give it a shot."

"Boy, are we lucky you two were actually in here." Crystal said.

"Well, you better have a pretty good reason for bargin' in like this!" Butch complained, "'Cause unless you kids plan on payin' our bail, I don't see any reason for talkin' to you!"

"I've got one." Platinum offered.

Both rockets looked at the girl for only a moment as she stepped aside to reveal Silver standing behind her. Their mouths dropped open in shock.

"Y-y-y-you!" Cassidy tried to say.

"Is that who I think it is?" asked Butch.

"The boss' son." His partner confirmed.

The dex holders all smiled, and Gold pumped his fist in excitement. This was actually going to work!

"Hello." Silver finally said, "If you two could be so kind. I'm looking for my father."

"Your father?!" Butch asked.

"But I thought that you two had some sort of falling out?" Cassidy added.

"Times change." He assured, "I'm sure you two know about some of the stranger things that have been going on the past few days."

The rockets nodded but did not say a word.

"The point is that I am the rightful heir to the Team Rocket throne." Silver continued, "And I intend to be treated as such."

"Boy, someone's got an ego." Gold chuckled. Crystal grabbed him by the ear to shut him up.

"Look, we'd love to help you..." Cassidy began.

"But they're watchin' us." Butch pointed out, motioning to a camera, "We can't just tell ya where the nearest base is."

"Don't worry." Silver continued, "It's taken care of."

* * *

He was not bluffing. In the security room, the two guards were not paying any attention to their video screens. Instead, they both had their eyes turned in the completely opposite direction, howling and laughing at the comedy act that was happening in front of them.

Diamond and Pearl were in the room doing a stand up bit that they had tweaked from one of their favorite duos in history.

"So, Pearl, how do you get two prinplups and a torterra in the bed of your truck?" Diamond asked.

"Gee, Dia. I don't know. How?"

"You get a big wooden stick, and you poke 'em on!"

The cops busted out laughing at that one. "Oh! Oh! Do the one with Arceus and the magikarp again!" one of them asked.

"It'd be our pleasure." They answered together.

* * *

"Alright, well, look," Butch began, "we can get ya a ride to see the boss, but you'll have to get there ASAP, okay?"

"Sure." Silver confirmed with a nod, "But why?"

"He's planning something big." Cassidy said, "Something _really_ big, and he's basically called all the troops to one spot. You'll need to catch a ride there before the group offering the ride leaves."

"Okay." Silver said again, pulling out a pen and paper, "Just tell me where I need to be, and I'll get there as fast as I can."

* * *

Back in Professor Oak's living room, Red was going over the rescue plan with Blue, Green, Gary, and Brock. He had drawn a small diagram of what they knew Giovanni's house looked like, and he had marked certain locations as possible entry points to the Team Rocket hideout. While the plan was not quite foolproof (they still had to find a way to sneak in without being detected), every two people had been divided up into a team. Gary and Blue were supposed to deal with security. Brock and Green had the job of being lookout (or, if something went wrong, distraction). And Red and Lance were the retrieval team. It was their job to retrieve Ash and Misty from wherever they were being held in the base. Each team was represented on the diagram as a drawing of two stick people. Everyone was to explore a different possible entry point.

"Wait a minute." Interrupted Gary, "Which stick figure is me again?"

"This one." Red reminded him, pointing to the stick next to the outdoor pillars.

"Wait. I thought that was mine." Brock said.

"No." Red replied with a facepalm, "You are the one in the left hallway with Green."

"But that one has my hair." He pointed out.

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking." Gary concurred, "Does my hair really look _that_ spiky?"

"Hey!" Brock shot back, "That girls love spiky hair!"

"Oh, give me a break…" Green sighed.

"Fine." Red erased the hair of both stick figures, and redrew Brock's with a few more spikes than Gary's, "There. How's that?"

"Oh! If we're adding stuff to the pictures, then I don't think you got my hat quite right." Green commented.

Blue facepalmed this time. "Look, will you guys quit worrying about hair and hats? Lance will be here in just a few minutes, and if we aren't ready for this thing by that point-"

"DONE!" came a shout from the next room over.

Every dex holder knew what that meant, and none of them wasted time in rushing out of the living room and into the lab. They were gone so fast that Brock and Gary had barely stood up before they left.

"Professor!" Red shouted as he scrambled into the room with Blue and Green on his tail, "Does that mean what I think it means?"

Tracey and Oak turned to face the three with smiles on both of their faces. The Pokémon watcher twirled a wrench in his hand as Professor Oak patted the trading machine that sat behind him. "Yep." The old man admitted, "We fixed the machine!"

"Alright!" cheered the teens as Brock and Gary entered the room behind them.

"So, how's this thing gonna work, Gramps?" Gary asked.

"Well, I'm glad you asked." He answered as he walked to the other side of the lab and grabbed an empty pokéball from one of the shelves. He then walked back around to the machine and placed the ball in one of the pipes that emerged from the top of the mechanism. "Red, if you would be so kind as to provide us with a demonstration?"

The boy smiled and made a brisk walk over to the professor. Without a word, he took out Pika's pokéball and sat it in the machine. The Pokémon began to look around curiously from inside his orb, and he sniffed the air as he noticed the large pipe over his head. He did not know what to think of this.

"Now!" Tracey finally spoke, "Behold the power of pokéball transfer!"

He pressed a small blue button on the machine and both the empty pokéball and Pika's pokéball were sucked up into their respective tubes as lights began to flicker on and off and beeping noises began emerge from the inner workings of the device.

"PIIIKAAA!" the Pokémon cried from inside the pipe.

Red winced at that. "Are… you sure he's okay in there?"

Professor Oak rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Well… I guess there's a good reason that we don't have see-through pokéballs in this dimension yet."

"Yeah, it might be kind of scary to see the inside of that thing." Tracey admitted.

The dex holders sweatdropped as they waited for the machine to finish processing, and, sure enough, after just a few minutes, a solid red and white pokéball dropped out of one pipe and an empty see-through pokéball from the other. The observers simply blinked a few times before doing anything.

"…Did it work?" Blue asked.

Red walked up to the trading machine and slowly grabbed the solid pokéball from its pedestal. He turned it around in his hand a few times, noting the heavier metallic feel to this dimension's capture devices and the thick coated paint that covered all sides. It was different. That was for sure.

"Well?" the professor prodded. Red looked at him with a curious head tilt, and the he only nodded in response. "Go ahead. See how it works."

Red caressed the strange orb in his right hand, slowly feeling down the curves and grooves until he came across the little white button in the middle. He took a huge breath as he gently pressed it down with his thumb, and a red beam of light shot to the floor, materializing into his pikachu!

"Pika?" it asked as it opened its eyes and looked around the room.

"ALRIGHT!" Red yelled with joy as he dove to the floor and picked his pokemon up in the air. "It worked! Pika, you're okay!"

"Pik-Pikachu! Pik!" it cheered in response.

Red twirled it around in the air with a smile on his face and warmth in his heart. The feeling reminded him of when he had first caught Pika. Well… Okay, maybe not when he _first_ caught Pika. They didn't really like each other at first. But it at least reminded him of when he had first started his journey! The purity of that joy, happiness, and yearn for adventure filled his soul again for a few minutes as he realized that he could battle again. With no level cap to slow him down, Red was back in the game more than ever, and he could not wait to get back to training!

"Hold on." Gary interrupted, prompting the whole room to look at him. His arms were slightly crossed with his left hand below his chin in a fashion that suggested he was in deep thought. "How do we know that it worked?"

"What do you mean?" Red asked, "Pika is right here in my hands. Obviously it worked."

"No. I mean how do we know that the level cap is really gone?" he tried again, walking over to Red and his pikachu, "I mean, yeah, Pika was transferred properly, and that's great, but how do we know that the level cap is really gone?"

Red looked up at his Pokémon from where he was holding him. "Uh… I'm… not sure."

Everyone else in the room sighed.

"Well… the data says it should work." Professor Oak explained.

"But in the end, that doesn't account for everything…" Blue added.

Gary let a huge smile grow on his face as he pulled out one of his own pokéballs. "I know how we can find out." A gleam shone in Red's eyes as he sat Pika back down on the floor and stood up himself. Gary tossed the pokéball in the air. "Blastoise! I choose you!"

"BLASTOOOISE!" the Pokémon roared triumphantly as it dropped to the floor.

"Wait." Professor Oak began, "I'm not sure that this is such a good-"

"I think it's time for a little experiment!" Gary continued, "Red, I'll use my blastoise to attack Pika, and you can-"

"PIKA, VOLT TACKLE!" the trainer announced, causing his Pokémon to shoot forward at an incredible speed.

Papers, data, and reports flew all over the room as Pika's static shock began to shoot off everywhere. The electric mouse rammed into Blastoise with a blinding flash of light, and a large crash resonated with the attack, causing everyone in the room to fall to the ground.

"WOOOAHH!" screamed Red as he was pushed back by the aftershock. He fell to the ground as well, his hat drooping over the side of his head so he could not see, and everything stayed that way.

Nobody spoke or moved for several minutes, and silence engulfed the room, but as the dust settled and Red pushed his hat back to the top of his head, everyone could see Pika standing atop a fainted blastoise with a smile on his face.

"Pi-Pikachu!" He commented with a grin.

"Yep." Red confirmed, "It definitely works."

"Ooooh… My lab!" Professor Oak moaned as he stood up from where he had fallen, "Look at all of these papers you've incinerated! It will take me _months_ to fix all of this!"

"Never mind that!" Blue jumped in, "I want my Pokémon to go in that machine next!"

"Wait your turn!" Green ordered, "I want a go!"

Tracey knelt down to look at the machine again. It had a few burn marks on it, but it appeared to be fine for the most part. "Huh, you guys are lucky that this thing is still running at all."

"Well, let's not risk that again." Brock said, "Red, after you transfer all of your Pokémon, it might be a good idea to practice _outside_."

Pika jumped up on Red's shoulder as the boy pumped his fist in the air. "Alright!" he cheered, "I'm ready to get back into the swing of things! Brock, will you and Gary give us a battle when we're done in here?"

"I'd be more than happy to." The former gym leader chuckled, "If I'm not strong enough for you, then I'm sure that some of Ash's Pokémon around the ranch would be more than excited to join in!"

"Yeah!" Gary added, "And, as a matter of fact, I have a haunter out there that can produce illusions! I can have it create the entire Team Rocket scenario for us so that we can practice infiltrating their hideout before Lance shows up!"

"Awesome!" Red cheered, "Sounds like a plan!"

* * *

But little did Red know that he was waaayy off target by planning to infiltrate the Viridian City base. There were only two people who knew exactly were Team Rocket was at the moment, and they were both shooting through the sky as fast as they could on the back of a latios.

"Okay!" Tobias shouted over the wind in his face, "Let's go over it one more time to make sure that we've got everything!"

"Right!" Ash called back, "Once we get to Ilex Forest, I'm going to need you to create a distraction at the front of the base, preferably with a Pokémon that isn't Darkrai!"

"Okay!"

"You need to make it look like you are trying to break in! Since we don't have enough information to properly disarm security, I need their focus to be on you while I try to sneak into the base!"

"Do you have anything specific that you need me to do while attacking?" Tobias asked.

"Not really!" The trainer replied, "Just cause enough chaos to get as many troops out there as possible, and don't get caught!"

"Fair enough!"

"I'll work my way around to the prison chamber as quickly and quietly as I can! Remember, we want it to look like your attack on the base is completely unrelated to Misty's capture!"

Tobias nodded to that one. He had to be quiet about his intentions, otherwise they might kill Misty. Perhaps he would create some sort of a cover story to yell at the rockets while he was launching his assault. He might scream something about his family dying in the Goldenrod attack or his Pokémon being stolen by them years ago. He could think of something.

"Now, the biggest issue is Mewtwo!" Ash reminded him.

"Ah, yes! The Super Pokémon!"

"Right! It's a psychic type!" Ash continued, "Meaning that no matter how good my sneaking skills are, it will definitely be able to sense that I'm in the building… Provided that Giovanni has it out of its pokéball…"

"Do you think he will?" Tobias asked.

Ash wasn't sure. He thought about it for a moment, and while he could easily picture a dark Giovanni sitting on some kind of throne with Mewtwo on at his right hand like a puppet, he wasn't sure how accurate this picture was. He really _did_ view this disgusting jerk as an evil puppet master of a tyrant, but Ash knew that it was more than likely his imagination running away with him when he thought of such a horror movie scene. No matter how evil someone may be, people keep Pokémon in their pokéballs, right?

Ash looked up at his shoulder to find Pikachu staring off into the distance with a determined scowl on his face. Okay, well, _most people_ keep Pokémon in their pokéballs.

"Ash?" Tobias checked back. It had been some time since he asked his question.

"Oh!" Ash shook his head to clear all of his thoughts, "I… I don't know. I don't know how Giovanni treats his Pokémon!"

Tobias nodded again. "Fair enough."

"But remember, your main goal is to cause enough chaos to distract him anyway!" Ash reminded him, "I'm not sure how cocky Giovanni will get now that he has Mewtwo, but if you can get him to send Mewtwo after you, then that fixes everything!"

"Agreed!" Tobias said, "If he sends that thing after me, then I immediately switch to Darkrai!"

"IMMEDIATELY!"

Tobias paused for a moment. All either trainer could hear was the wind whisking by them as they flew above the treetops. Things were really about to get ugly. Tobias was legitimately afraid of this thing they were going after. That did not happen often. He was used to tackling legendaries by now. "How powerful is Mewtwo exactly?"

Ash shuttered. He remembered his first encounter with the creature. Mewtwo was legitimately able to knock any Pokémon out in seconds. Nothing but his natural counterpart was capable of harming him. He even created a storm that would have destroyed the world if no one stopped him. Ash gulped a little bit. "Powerful! He is very powerful! The only reason that I think you even stand a chance of stopping him is because of your darkrai! Dark types are not affected by psychic attacks, and when you take away psychic attacks, you take away most of Mewtwo's arsonal!"

"Do you think even the G-Men will be able to take it down?" the older trainer continued, "I mean, if it is as strong as you say, then it sounds like the only reason we are still alive now is because it hasn't decided to kill us yet!"

Ash took a long breath. "Can… Can we just not talk about this right now? The more I think about me letting Mewtwo go with Giovanni, the more I feel like I might have doomed the entire multiverse!"

Tobias shrugged. "I'm just saying if we are given a chance to take it down when we get there, we should!"

Ash nodded slowly. "Yeah… No argument with that! But we save Misty first!"

* * *

Lance was also in the sky, still riding his dragonite toward Pallet Town. He had considered using one of his counterpart's Pokémon to fly there, seeing as how they were typically faster, but he felt as though he needed a moment to rest his mind. Literally every time that he used Giratina, he had to brainwash the sucker, and it was only getting more and more feisty as time went on. It was getting exhausting.

The dragon tamer reflected mainly on his plan for the time being and how perfect it was. First, he would meet up with the dex holders and other various chumps, pretending to be ready to help them stop Team Rocket and save their friends. Then, after the "plan" was put into action, he would wait for an opportunity to snatch Mewtwo's pokéball from Giovanni. Under normal circumstances, this would be quite a hard thing to pull off, but with the dex holders helping him and providing quite a powerful distraction, everything should be a piece of cake. With Mewtwo at his side, Lance could take control of the Rocket base in no time flat and use the technology, Pokémon, and endless psychic energy to finally rid the world of anyone who dared to treat nature like scum! He could even use the dimensional transporter to expand his justice throughout the multiverse and create a perfect utopia for all forms of life!

Lance smiled at the thought. It was a good thing he had read the files on this plan. Team Rocket and the dex holders would do all the work for him, and the entire multiverse would be drug kicking and screaming into a better reality.

A light jingle interrupted the dragon tamer's thoughts. He looked down at the backpack that was sitting in his lap. It was the backpack that he had taken from his counterpart earlier, and the jingle was doubtlessly the pokégear ringing. He had used it earlier when Red called, so he knew what it sounded like. Against his better judgment, he took the small device out and flipped it open.

"Agent 39!" came a strange, distorted voice, "Do you read me?"

"Um… uh… Loud and clear… sir?" he tried, "How may I help you?"

"This is your dispatch officer, 39, where are you?"

"I… um… I'm feeling ill…" Lance continued, "Why?"

"Ill? But, sir, you were the intel that provided us with today's assignment." The voice continued.

"Assignment? Well, push it to tomorrow?"

There was silence on the other end.

"Hello?"

"39, are you okay?"

"Of… Of course I'm okay!" Lance continued to lie, "I mean… well… I'm sick today, but aside from that, I'm okay."

"Sir, I'm talking about the raid on the Team Rocket base? The raid that is happening in _minutes_?"

"_MINUTES?!_" Lance cried, "No, no, no! It can't be in _minutes_!"

"Yes sir." The voice continued, "Our troops were dispatched quite a while ago. You _did_ get a message about the time, right?"

"I- I- I have to go!" Lance shouted, as he hung up the phone. He was just about to be over Pallet Town. He had to put his plan in motion _NOW_ before the G-Men got to the base!

* * *

"Alright! Simulation over!" Red announced, as his hard, metallic surroundings faded and became Professor Oak's ranch again.

Blue, Green, Gary, and Brock stood along side the young champion as he returned Vee and Saur to their new pokéballs again. The trainers had taken the advice of Gary earlier and had been using the researcher's haunter to create the illusion of the Team Rocket base for them. They were not sure how accurate it really was, but it was still comforting to have something to practice with. Everyone was getting used to their roles in infiltrating the base, and they had not failed yet.

"Nice job, Haunter!" Gary praised, as he walked over to his ghost Pokémon and patted it on the head.

"Haunter! Haunter!" it joyfully screamed.

"Oh, that reminds me!" Brock said, snapping his fingers, "I think Agatha is still at my house. I asked Forrest to call me when she left!"

"Brock, your pokégear has been off since the battle at Goldenrod." Green reminded him, "Remember? You decided to turn it off to prevent battery loss since you didn't get to charge it all night."

"Oh, that's right!" he chuckled, pulling the phone out of his pocket and pressing the 'power' button, "My bad!"

"Hey, kids!" came a shout from seemingly nowhere.

The dex holders looked around for a few minutes to see what was going on. No one was in the ranch but them.

"Up here!" it came again, and, sure enough, Lance was hovering just above them on his dragonite.

"Lance!" Red cheered, "You're finally here! Guess what? The professor and Tracey-"

"Yeah, I don't have time for it!" he hissed, "We have got to get to the Rocket base _right now_!"

"_Right now?_" Green echoed, "I know we have to be quick, but why the rush?"

"Yeah," Blue agreed, "We could at least get one more training session done with you in it."

"No! No! NO!" Lance argued, "Get your flying types out _now!_ The G-Men are about-"

"Hey, everybody!" Brock interrupted, his pokégear close to his face, "…You guys have got to hear this message I just got."

* * *

**More AN: Okay, I'm glad I got that out of the way! Anyone ready for the next round? I know I am! Things are about to really heat up! Trust me on this one. I sure hope I didn't bore you this time around. Next time, get ready for some action and build up. Reviews are always appreciated. I desperately want to hear what you guys think of my story and my writing style. I also love to hear speculation about future rounds, but you guys probably already know all of this. I'll see you in two weeks!  
**


	20. Round 20: Of Bases and Explosions

**Author's Notes: So, yeah, please don't hit me. I know I have not updated for about a month. Sorry. The issue is that I recently got involved in a play that a drama portion of my college is putting on, and I've been practicing with them pretty much every weekend for quite some time now. I hope you are all okay with my updates appearing a little more chaotically. After all, I like to think that most of the people following this story have it on alert. The numbers don't really match up, but I like to think that. Anyway, I'm sorry I've been gone for a while, and I hope you enjoy this round. Oh! And it's our 20th round! Yaaay! I would have done something cool in celebration of it, but I kind of forgot that this was going to be our 20th round... Oh well. Peace!**

******Une version française de cette histoire est disponible ici: ****Absolette**.

**********Ship Warning: (very minor) Specialshipping, Pokeshipping, MangaQuestshipping, Franticshipping if you look REALLY hard, and whatever you call the ship between White and N, except that one is only mentioned. I don't normally do spoilers here, but, yeah, if you're expecting me to ship White and N, it aint gonna happen. I will, however, kindly tip my hat to the ship.  
**

******I do not own or have any rights to any part of the Pokemon franchise whatsoever.**

* * *

"Uh… Hey, Brock. It's Ash… I guess you must be pretty busy if your pokégear is turned off… but I guess this message is really meant for Red more anyway. Or, well… No. Maybe not… Yeah, this message is meant for everyone. Look… I just wanted to apologize for being so pushy earlier about saving Misty. I know you of all people are probably just as worried about her as I am… I should have been willing to wait and listen to what you, Red, and the others had to say about the whole thing… I guess that's kind of a trait of mine. I've never been much of a thinker. I'm just a man of action… unless a Pokémon battle is involved… Sorry about that. I know I've drug you guys into a lot of problems before because I didn't take the time to think… And I'm not sure if that's ever really going to change. But as for right now, in this moment, I'm gonna make the best of who I am and where I am… And I'm not gonna force you guys to go along with me. This whole situation is my fault, and for once in my life, I'm going to take responsibility for it! If I hadn't stood in front of that motion sensor in Giovanni's mansion yesterday then Misty wouldn't be in trouble right now. Red, Blue, Green, and Lance could have found Giovanni's base and taken him out before any of this stuff happened. Now Mewtwo is gone, Misty is gone, and it's all my fault. But I'm not ashamed to say that! It's my fault, and I'm going to do what I can to set things right! I found out that Giovanni is somewhere in the center of Ilex Forest. If I don't make it back, then I just want you to know that I'm sorry for causing this whole mess, and Red, if it is any consolation, you were definitely right from the beginning. I shouldn't have gotten involved in all of this. Thanks for looking out for me. [Long dial tone]" –Missed phone call from an unknown number to Brock Harrison's pokégear.

* * *

**Location: Viridian City- Animeverse**

**Invasion Countdown: 23 hours 39 minutes**

The sky filled with noise as seven jet-black helicopters shot over the top of one of Kanto's richest suburbs. Citizens ran out of their houses to confront the strange noises, but they were each met by a series of just-as-threatening armored cars, complete with masked soldiers waltzing down the street.

"Stay in your homes." The soldiers would say, "This is a matter of national security."

The explanation was not exactly a fair one, but few will argue with armed men. The citizens remained in their houses for the most part, and fear was abundant in the small community. No one quite knew the reason for the invasion.

One soldier in particular walked down the street faster than the others.

"This is Mightyena, Alfa, 90-10-07." He spoke into his radio, "We have the ground secure. Everything is clear for the braviary to land."

"Rodger, Mightyena." Responded the chopper pilot as he and two other helicopters eased over Giovanni's house, "Mama Ursaring, we're requesting permission to land."

Far away in Mission Control, Director Morrison and many others sat in their desks, running analysis, diagnostics, and strategy on the situation at hand.

"Permission granted." Said the director, "Don't even bother asking him to surrender. Just storm the place."

"Rodger." He replied, and the chopper began to touch down. The others followed.

* * *

A female rocket in a black and white uniform ran into the production room to approach her new boss. The area was filled with scientists, grunts, and robot parts. Everyone was working with haste toward the invasion, and she spotted him on the far side of the room, overseeing construction.

"Permission to speak, sir?" she asked as she approached from behind.

"Go ahead." He granted with a lazy wave of the hand.

"The sensors in front of our main base have been activated again."

That got his attention. The boss turned to face his subordinate.

"Someone is about to take the base, sir." She finished.

Giovanni looked up and down the girl for a moment. She was serious. She was standing in a firm, upright position, and she had a determined scowl on her face.

"The dex holders?" he asked.

"Probably." She replied with a nod.

He raised an eyebrow at the situation. "Domino, why are _you_ telling me this? I thought I put my counterpart on observation."

"You did, sir. He… ordered me to give you the news."

Giovanni frowned at that. "So, the sore loser wants to play the quiet game now, huh?"

Domino did not know how to respond to that. She just stood facing the new boss in a disciplined and attentive manner.

He lightened up after a few seconds and let out a big grin. "Aw, what the heck? Let him play his childish games. This is a benchmark for me!"

He began to walk toward the door of the room, chuckling, and Domino was just left confused.

"Um… Do you need me to do anything else… sir?" she asked.

Without turning around or changing his pace, Giovanni just let out an even larger grin and shouted, "Yes, bring me my laptop!"

"Where will you be?"

"The Prison Chamber."

* * *

The soldier violently slammed his shoulder into the mansion door, knocking it wide open, and he proceeded to tiptoe into the house as carefully as possible, his assault rifle aligned perfectly with his vision. As he continued to fan through the dark, ominous building, a crobat appeared at his side and sent an echo through the room as well.

"Cro-Cro!" the creature cried. This confirmed it. The room was empty.

"Alright! Move in!" the soldier motioned as he stepped to the side of the door.

Dozens and dozens of soldiers followed after his call and fanned out through the building, each was armed and ready to take on whatever they might encounter, and each had a belt of eight Pokémon ready for Mewtwo.

* * *

The dark and dank Prison Chamber underneath Ilex Forest was familiar to Misty. The unsanitary conditions and surrounding environment reminded her all too much of the cell that she, Ash, and Brock had been locked up in when they were traveling through Johto. It was eerily similar, actually. The stony, rock walls were just as sleek and damp. The metal bars that trapped her were just as cold and hard yet thin. Team Rocket had Mewtwo… again. They were not good memories, but at least she could take solace in the fact that she was no longer chained to the wall… and her "guards" from earlier were now replaced with security cameras… and she had confidence that Ash was going to come for her. The only issue now was finding something to pass the time. Being prisoner was boring.

However, before she could think of anything interesting to do, a strong light emerged from the opposite side of the room. The door was opening. The water trainer pressed her body against the bars of her cage to see who it was.

Giovanni. And he had a laptop.

* * *

A large explosion rocked the mansion as troops continued to pour into the house. The line of men lead to the front hallway, where a huge hole was blown in the wall of the building, revealing a secret chamber that lead far underneath the foundation.

The lead soldier stood at the front of the line, nearest the hole. "Well done, men." He radioed, "We have found the buneary hole. I repeat, we have found the buneary hole. We will be going in to confront the rockets in seconds."

"Rodger." The director radioed back, "Bring as many men in there as you can get, but keep the B Team outside in order to account for possible ambushes and retreats. Team C stays on civilian control."

"Rodger." He repeated, as he waved his troops into the hole they made. Roughly 200 men were in the house now, and they stormed the rocket base with full force, others coming in behind them.

* * *

"What do you want?" Misty asked, as Giovanni began to approach her cell.

"Oh, I just like having the opportunity to say I told you so." He teased.

Misty did not bother responding to that. She just turned away from the man to face the back of her cell.

Giovanni did not mind. He simply stood near the cell bars and flipped open his laptop. The screen filled with diagnostics, numbers, times, and a large green circle in the middle.

Misty could hear the beeping of the device from where she was standing, and in her curiosity, she ignored her stubbornness and turned to look at the thing. The green light slowly began flashing, and Giovanni just smiled at her.

"What does it mean?" she asked.

"These, my dear, are the diagnostics for the sensors at my HQ. It would seem as though someone is trying to infiltrate my base."

Misty only looked at the computer with more confusion.

Giovanni's eyes narrowed. "Friends of yours, perhaps?"

* * *

The men were inside the base now. Many of them. Several hundred. They scanned the area with their Pokémon and walked through the empty remains of the place with a kind of morbid curiosity.

"Mama Ursaring, this is Mightyena, Alpha. We've got a problem here." The lead soldier radioed as they continued their fan out.

"This is Mama Ursaring," the director came back, "What's the situation, Alpha?"

"The buneary hole appears to be completely abandoned, sir." He responded, "There is definitely evidence of recent activity, but the most that we can find in terms of life are a few caterpies and weedles."

"How's the tech?" the director asked.

"Every computer we have found so far is wiped." Alpha continued, "Someone knew we were coming, sir."

"Keep searching the area!" the director commanded, "I want every inch of that place mapped! Bring me up anything you find! Every nut, bolt, and wiped computer needs to be on my desk by-"

"HELLO!" Came a voice in the base.

Most G-Men in the area jumped from the startling break of silence. Each of them aimed their weapons with their gaze around the room. No one was there.

"I FIGURED YOU WOULD ARRIVE EVENTUALLY!" the voice continued. It was coming over the intercom!

"SO MUCH FOR OUR LITTLE BARGIN, I SUPPOSE!" It was Giovanni's voice.

* * *

Misty continued to just watch the green light on the screen.

"What's your point?" she asked.

"I left them a little surprise." Giovanni chuckled.

Misty looked back at the screen. The blinking green light was speeding up. It was getting very fast.

"NOW, I THINK I'VE BEEN A VERY GOOD SPORT ABOUT THIS WHOLE THING SINCE DAY 1, RED!"

"Alpha! Alpha! What's going on down there?!" The director screamed.

"There's some sort of recording playing for us, sir." Alpha responded.

"I've got a bad feeling about this…" another soldier commented.

"BUT IF YOU CAN'T PLAY NICE," the voice continued, "THEN MAYBE YOU SHOULDN'T BE PLAYING AT ALL!"

"Alpha! Get your troops out of there, now!" the Director screamed.

But it was too late. An explosion engulfed the entire base and shook the very foundation of the suburb above them. Giovanni's mansion collapsed in on itself.

"Hello?! Hello?! Alpha!" the director cried into his radio, "ALPHA!"

"We've lost all communication with 87% of our active field agents." The communications officer announced.

Director Morrison slowly laid his head down on his desk in defeat as chaos erupted throughout the office. The G-Men had failed.

* * *

The light turned red, and Giovanni began to laugh.

"There you have it!" he sputtered, "No more Red! No more dex holders! I'm free of those brats once and for all!"

Misty was visibly shocked, but she simply backed up further in her cell. She knew they were still alive. She pressed a hand against her chest to feel that the tracking button was still in her shirt. They knew where she was. They were fine. But still! The idea the Giovanni would do something like this!

The madman was still roaring with laughter from the other side of the cell.

"Come on!" he chocked out, "No witty comment? No annoying back sass?"

Misty only glared at him.

The laughter stopped. Giovanni let out a simple smile as he pushed himself up against the cell bars. "Well, so much for your 'rescue,' I guess."

She only glared.

"Come on," he taunted, "How does it feel to know that all of your friends are dead?"

Misty gritted her teeth with a scowl. "Ash is still alive."

Now Giovanni's smile disappeared. His eyes widened. He looked at Misty with utter amazement.

There was silence.

"How?" he finally spoke, "How are you not crushed by this?"

Misty smirked. "Let's just say this isn't my first rodeo. I know Ash too well. You might think you're hot stuff. You might think you can conquer the world. Heck, you might even be able to kill Red, but you _can't kill Ash._ He's too stubborn to die."

Giovanni gritted his teeth this time. He was honestly hoping that his bomb would end this whole thing. He wanted to see pain in this girl's eyes. He wanted to see distress. She just _never_ lost hope!

Misty smirked at him. "Get out of my cell."

He banged his hands on the bars in frustration. "Come on!" he screamed, "What is _so _special about Ash Ketchum?!"

Misty's smirk grew into a full grin, and she narrowed her eyes on her opponent. "Everything."

* * *

Latios was flying close to the ground, ducking in and out of the treeline. They were in Ilex Forest now, and according to Lance's pokétch, they were getting very close to their target.

"Well, it sure has been a long ride," Ash commented, "but we're almost there!"

"Pika!"

"How will we know when we've arrived?" Tobias asked, "I mean, how precise is that map of yours anyway?"

Ash looked down at the pokétch in his hand to see their small blue icon slowly get closer and closer to the red dot on the map. They were right next to it. They would be perfectly aligned in a matter of seconds.

"Ash?" Tobias asked.

The young trainer looked up from his hand and viewed the rest of the thick forest still ahead of them. He was looking for a ship, an army of rockets, a bid metal building… anything that would indicate human life in the area…

There was nothing.

"Ash?" Tobias asked again, "How will we know when we are there?"

Ash looked down at the pokétch a second time. Their blue dot ticked forward again, and they were right over the red dot that represented Giovanni.

"STOP!" he cried as loud as he could.

Sure enough, Latios skidded to a minor hover in only seconds, turning its head slightly to see Ash and Pikachu.

"What's going on?" Tobias pried, "Are we there?"

Ash scanned the area one more time… There was nothing but trees, bushes, vines, and wild Pokémon.

"I'm not… sure…." He admitted.

"What do you mean?"

"The pokétch says that Giovanni should be right here in front of us…" Ash explained, "But I don't see anything around here."

"Let me see." Tobias offered, reaching his hand out for the device.

Ash gave him the pokétch, and they both studied the blinking dots on the map.

"Hmm… Yep…" the older trainer began, "It certainly looks like he should be here…"

Tobias whistled at Latios, and the dragon-type responded by beginning a steady descent to the floor of the forest. The two trainers jumped off of the Pokémon when they reached the bottom, and Ash started shaking around in some nearby bushes.

"Do ya think the tracker somehow fell into one of these bushes?" he asked.

Tobias knelt down carefully, and he gently put his head against the grassy floor in an attempt to hear something.

Ash walked up to him with astonished expression. "No way…"

"Well, why not?" Tobias asked, "You said you thought his first base was underneath his house, right?"

"Well, I guess," said Ash, "but how would the tracking button be getting any reception from down there?"

"We're talking about a state of the art pokétch compatible spy machine that an inter-governmental agency uses to track its suspects." He continued with a slow whisper, "I'm open to a lot of possibilities at the moment."

Ash nodded slowly. That made good sense.

Pikachu smiled and jumped off of his master's shoulder and put his ear to the ground as well.

"Pikachu?" Ash asked, "Can you hear anything?"

Tobias sat up from his position and also looked at the Pokémon.

"Pika." He nodded.

"Yes!" Ash cheered with a fist-pump, "Alright! What is it?"

Pikachu did not move right away, but his ear began to twitch. It was not the ear that he had pushed against the ground, though. It was his other ear that was still pointed up into the sky.

Ash and Tobias both looked at him curiously, and Pikachu stood up from his position to stare off into the direction of the strange noise he had heard in the air.

Suddenly, the humans could hear it too. A soft beating sound began to approach from the distance. It grew louder and louder upon approach.

Ash was perplexed by the noise. "That sounds like…"

"A helicopter!" Tobias finished as he dove to the floor and crawled into a bush.

"Pika-Pi-Pikachu!" Pikachu agreed, doing the same.

"What are you guys doing?" Ash asked.

Tobias did not respond. He simply grabbed Ash by the jacket and pulled him into the bush as well. He then returned Latios to his pokéball.

"What's going on?" Ash whispered.

"We're in Team Rocket territory, Ash!" Tobias reminded him, "Do you want one of those things to spot us?"

Ash looked up into the sky for the mysterious helicopter that had not quite appeared yet. It's propeller beatings grew louder by the second.

"I guess not." He admitted, "But we _do _need to find a way into this secret base, and that helicopter is probably our best bet."

Tobias nodded in agreement. "We don't need it spotting us, though." He reminded, "We'll wait for it to pass over us, and then we can chase it down."

The beating continued to grow unbearably loud, and in a mere matter of seconds, a _very_ low flying helicopter skimmed above the trees, passing over Ash, Tobias, and Pikachu. They each peaked out of the bushes just enough to see the dark shadowy color of the chopper and the large red 'R' adorning the bottom of the craft.

* * *

"We'll be landing in just a few minutes!" the pilot shouted back to Silver over the roar of the propellers.

Silver and his friends (and Charon) were currently soaring just over the treeline in Ilex Forest. It had been a short ride from Goldenrod, but no one was complaining. The dex holders were just happy that they had been able to pull this one off. As it turned out, the Giovanni of this dimension _did_ have a son just like Silver. None of the children were entirely sure how well Silver's counterpart resembled him, personality-wise, but none of the rockets seemed to know either. So, everything had gone smoothly since Butch and Cassidy gave them the address for Goldenrod rocket transport. No one was really ready to question Giovanni's son.

The circumstances did get a little strange when Silver introduced Gold, Crystal, May, and Max, however. Apparently, Team Rocket had a few run-ins with them in the past, and the agents at Goldenrod rocket transport recognized said group as serious dangerous enemies. Of course, Silver made up for this by explaining that he, Yellow, Diamond, Pearl, Platinum, and Charon had captured them in some kind of an undercover mission, and they were to be transported to the Ilex prisoner base immediately. This seemed to be working so far. The only drawback was the handcuffs that some of the dex holders had to wear as a result.

Charon could not stop laughing from the irony. He _did_ keep his mouth shut, though. He was in the same boat as the rest of them.

"So…" The pilot continued, "I hear you're not much of a talker…"

The other rockets in the copter sweatdropped at that.

"Why would you say that?" Silver asked.

"Uh…" the pilot blanked for a minute, "Oh… It's just what I hear… Surely you realize that more talk goes around about you than anyone else in the entire organization?"

Now Silver was intrigued. "Oh? And why is that?"

"Well…" the pilot stopped again. Silver really seemed to be making him nervous. "You… Um… You did kind of destroy the operation we had going on in Johto…"

"I did?" he perked up.

"Well, yeah… One of them…" he continued, "And your dad is so protective of you that we weren't really allowed to do anything about it.

Silver paused for a second. His dad was… What?

"Don't you remember?" the pilot asked again, "You and those prisoners you have stopped our whole operation Ecruteak City."

"Oh… Right…" Silver tried. He peered at Gold and Crystal from where he was sitting. Gold gave him an arrogant half-smile as a joke. Crystal nudged him in the side.

"You mean these two, right?" Silver confirmed, pointing to his two oldest traveling companions.

The pilot did not turn around. "Um… Sorry, but I'm about to land now. I can't really take my eyes off the sky." He explained, "It was the kid with the yellow hat and his blue-haired girlfriend."

Gold and Crystal's eyes both doubled in size, and they looked at each other for a moment before blushing ferociously and turning away with scowls.

Luckily for Silver, Gold was now looking straight at him. He responded by shooting him the same arrogant half-smile that he had received a moment ago. Gold growled under his breath.

Yellow was determined and ready to rescue Red. She was hardly speaking, but she could not help but chuckle a little bit at that last interaction.

"Umm… Pardon me, Pilot." Platinum spoke up, "We seem to be getting terribly close to the ground, and, although I do see a clearing coming up, there does not appear to be a runway. Where shall we land?"

The pilot laughed at that one. "You've never been to this base, have ya, miss?"

Before she could respond, the pilot picked up his radio and spoke a long string of numbers and letters into it, topped off with "requesting permission to land." And when he put the device down, the forest clearing below them began to open up like an automatic door, revealing an underground docking station filled with other machines.

The dex holders' mouths dropped open as the pilot began to descend into the base.

* * *

Ash felt like he was running for his life, and he was certainly breathing like it. Pikachu sat inside of his backpack, bouncing up and down as the trainer ran, jumped, and dodged his way through the thick of the forest with Tobias.

"Why can't- we just use- Latios for this?" Ash asked in exhaustion.

"The same reason that you have to keep Pikachu in your backpack for now." Tobias answered, "We are chasing a Team Rocket helicopter. It is very possible that we will run into more rockets on our way there. We can't look like trainers right now. We have better chances if they think we are just some guys exploring the forest."

The duo continued to run over the thick brush and rocky landscape. They jumped on roots. They stepped around stones. They were seriously sprinting. The beating of the helicopter was their map. It must have been landing because they were gaining on it.

"But- at this point- don't most rockets know who I am?" Ash asked.

"I'll take whatever little boost in my chances of survival I can get." Tobias teased.

The beating was getting loud again. Ridiculously loud. It was almost as loud as it had been when the helicopter was flying over them earlier. No! It was louder!

Tobias came to a halt right in front of Ash, and he stopped the young trainer from continuing by holding out his right arm.

Ash was nearly clotheslined by the action, but he skidded to a stop at just the right time.

"Hey, what gives?" he asked.

"Look." Tobias pointed to the clearing just beyond the few trees in front of them.

The helicopter they were chasing was almost at eye-level with them, and it continued to dip down into a huge opening on the floor. Both trainers could see just how far down the chasm went from where they were standing. It was enormous.

Neither trainer dared to move or even speak as they saw the unbelievable sight unfold, and it was not until the ground had swallowed up the chopper entirely that they walked out to investigate.

They both stood over the apparently artificial floor marveling at its design and wondering how to get in.

"It looks so real…" Ash muttered.

"That's because it is." Tobias answered as he ruffled some of the grass in his hands, "This floor is bio-mechanical. It was not built. It was grown."

"Since when has Team Rocket been able to do that?" Ash asked.

"Well, you said that they cloned a Pokémon, right?"

Ash nodded.

Tobias smiled. "That makes this kind of stuff child's play."

Ash looked at the floor again. "So, you're saying this is like an early version of Mewtwo?"

Tobias shrugged and sighed. "You have to start somewhere…"

"Well, how do we get in?" Ash asked.

"From the looks of it, I'd say this is a docking bay." The older trainer explained, "Let's look around for the main entrance. That's probably the best place to carry out the plan."

Ash looked down at the floor one more time. "Well…" he began, "At least we know we're in the right place."

* * *

The dex holders and their Pokémon were flying through the air at a marvelous speed. No one was waiting up for the others, and it was clearly all or nothing as they raced to find Ash based on the voicemail he left Brock. The wind was in their faces and the majority of Kanto was at their backs. The dex holders were in no particular order at the moment, but they instead maintained what was quite nearly a horizontal line of Red's aerodactyl, Blue's charizard, Green's ditto, and Lance's dragonite. Gary was riding with Blue, and Brock was riding with Green, respectively.

"SO! HOW WILL WE KNOW WHEN WE FIND HIM?!" Brock shouted over the roar of the wind.

Red took the question as his, but he did not turn his head from its forward, determined position. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN?"

"I MEAN…" Brock adjusted himself on Ditty a little bit so that he could lean toward Red safely. "I MEAN, DO YOU THINK WE REALLY HAVE ENOUGH INFORMATION TO FIND ASH? ALL WE"RE GOING OFF OF IS THAT HE SAID 'IN THE MIDDLE OF ILEX FOREST' IN THE MESSAGE! …ILEX FOREST IS A BIG PLACE!"

Red did a double take at Brock before answering that one. "IT… IT IS?"

"OF COURSE!" Brock said with a nod, "IT'S HUGE!"

Red began to sweat a little bit. He leaned forward on Aero even more with hope that the decrease in windbreak would speed him up.

'_Dang it, Ash! I swear if I have to save your butt one more time while I'm over here, I'm just going to tie you up somewhere where you won't kill yourself until Giovanni is back in my world!'_

Lance had different thoughts, and as he flew along side his archenemies he could not help but wonder how the heck their Pokémon were so fast! He remembered the bout he had with his own counterpart and how the level cap had caused the other Lance's dragonite to be much faster than his. So why was it that in this instance he was forced to use his counterpart's dragonite to keep up with the dex holders' Pokémon? Lance had perfected his dragon brainwashing technique to the point where he did not have to concentrate much at all to gain control of a dragon he was touching, but it was not the effort he had to put out that bothered him, it was the mere idea that the dex holders were this powerful. In general, Pokémon from this world severely outclassed Pokémon from their world. Something smelled rotten.

The dragon tamer's mind would have likely continued to wonder around in this area if he did not get a phone call. The semi-familiar jingle played in his pocket, and, assuming it to be the G-Men, Lance took the pokégear out of his pocket and held it to his ear.

He was right. It was a man this time.

"Agent 39!" The voice spoke quickly and with heavy breath, "Agent 39! This is the director! We need you to come in _immediately! _We have a code rattata in the field! There was a booby trap at the suspect's mansion! A majority of our field agents are off line!"

He continued to ramble on. Lance smiled. He now had confirmation that Ash was being honest in his phone call. Giovanni must have somehow figured out that they knew where he base was, and he must have abandoned the area. The G-Men were also no longer a threat. Brilliant. Lance looked to his side at the determined and serious dex holders that held their steady and tenacious glares out into the sky as they flew with him to confront the enemy. Every part was playing out perfectly for Lance. This was going to be good.

"39!" Lance heard as he snapped back to reality, "39! Are you there?!" the director shouted, "I said we need you in now!"

Lance took the gear away from his ear and gently said, "Sorry, wrong number." Before hanging up.

* * *

The battle between Emerald and Black was going great (and lasting long), and the crowd was loving it!

Emerald was a bit of an analyzer, and he would never seriously attack Black without getting a good feel for what his Pokémon were capable of first. He let Brav attack a few times, saw that he enjoyed making good use of his areal strengths. The Pokémon rarely ever stayed within attacking distance. Brav flew in, did an attack, and left. There was only a small window of opportunity for Mr. Mime (Emerald's Pokémon) to get in any good shots, but Black was also a very offensive attacker, and Brav's attacks were many. In addition, the bird Pokémon seemed to know flying-type moves almost exclusively. This could allow Emerald to exploit the Pokémon's weak points. And he did. Mr. Mime was eventually able to overpower Brav with a combination of Barrier and Psybeam.

In contrast, Black was less of an analyzer and more of a pure fighter. He believed in a good, strong offense and the power of faith in his Pokémon. Black fought hard and never backed down. He could come up with good strategies, but they came in on the fly and also left just about as quickly. It was not uncommon for him to be thinking about so many different things in a battle that reality just vanished all together for him. This method of fighting and thinking might sound a little reckless, but it made him a very difficult trainer to predict and an even more difficult one to beat. For example, he managed to take out Emerald's dusclops with Goura (his carracosta).

However, both trainers knew that they were only biding their time until Black sent out his big guns. Both were anticipating it. Both were excited about it. But neither mentioned it.

* * *

"Wooah… Sapphire is this really necessary?!" Ruby asked in a bit of a nervous chuckle as his best friend lead him by the arm through the crowded stadium.

" 'Course it is!" she shot back, "Ya know if Black 's here, she has to be too!"

Ruby could not argue with that. He only wished that he did not have to be drug around the whole stadium before they found her. There were probably… at least five better ways of handling this.

But Sapphire did not care. She just kept that anxious look on her face as she wandered around the far end of the stadium with her eyes darting in every direction until…

"Um… Are you two looking for someone?" came a voice.

The duo spun their heads around toward the isle to see none other than White standing right behind them with a modest smile and wave. White was a friend of theirs from the far away Unova region. She was president and manager of the BW Agency, a multimedia acting and advertizing company that hired Pokémon. She was good friends with Black, and she sported a pink and white baseball cap, allowing just enough room for her brunette ponytail to wave out the back of it. She had a white shirt on, covered only on each side by a small, short sleeved jacket. She worse two black boots with pink lacings and blue shorts. Her usual outfit.

"WHITE!" Sapphire screamed with happiness as she let go of Ruby and clumped onto her other friend, "Oh mia gosh! I haven't seen you in forever! What're you and Black doing here?! How is everything going?! Do you want some nachos?"

The young woman nearly fell backwards when Sapphire jumped on her, but she managed to maintain her composure surprisingly well. "Uh… Nice to see you too… We were searching for N… Good… And… um… I think I'll pass."

Ruby leaned forward to pry Sapphire off of their friend. "Sorry," he commented as he pulled her away, "You know how she can get."

White dusted herself off a little bit. "Oh, it's fine." She tried, "I got the picture the first few times."

"You're here to find N again?" Ruby asked.

"What is your obsession with that guy?" Sapphire chimed in.

White blushed at that. "Ugh! It's not like that, Sapphire! Black and I are _both_ searching for N!"

"It seems like that's all you two ever do." Ruby chuckled.

"Well, as you can see, we're taking a break at the moment." White tried. She paused for a moment to look down at the field and observe the battle that still raged on. "Come on… Let's go get a seat."

The Hoenn team agreed, and they walked off to where ever White had come from, completely unaware of the quiet eyes that watched them from a distance in the back of the stadium. Someone was being particularly observant of our group.

* * *

"Alright!" Emerald cried, "Finish him off with Leaf Blade!"

"Sceptile!" his Pokémon grunted as it ran forward with all of its speed and jumped for an attack.

"Tula! Get out of there now!" Black tried, but it was too late. Sceptile came down on Black's electric-type far too hard. The galvantula was knocked on its back and fainted.

Black returned him to his pokéball before shooting the world's largest smirk at Emerald.

'_Uh-oh.'_ The boy thought. He had been counting Black's Pokémon. He only had one left. Emerald had two left, but it did not matter much if Black was about to do what he thought he was about to do. "Sceptile! Get back over here now!" he warned. Sceptile obeyed.

"Well, it's been fun." Black taunted as he pulled out his final ball and threw it into the air.

"WOAH! Wouldya look at that?!" the announcer screamed, "You're about to witness a real show here, folks!"

Emerald began to sweat as the crowd went wild. Reshiram, the great white legendary dragon of the Unova region dropped from the sky under the command of Black.

Black's eyes narrowed. "Let's do this."

Emerald leaned up to his grass-type and began to talk. "You've got this, okay? You _can_ do this if you push yourself hard enough." He told him, "Use your size to your advantage. Wait for him to attack, and then go for it."

"Scep." he nodded.

The Pokémon just stood there, both starting each other down. The crowd was silent. Ruby, Sapphire, and White peered down from their seats, ready for it to happen.

Then, Black finally made the first move. Pointing his finger at the opponent, he shouted, "Alright, Reshiram! Do it!"

Nobody moved.

Black sweatdropped a bit. "Okay… Um… Reshiram, I meant attack. You can attack now."

The Pokémon still did not move.

Now Emerald was confused too. "Umm… Black, what's going on?"

Reshiram turned its head to the right a little bit and looked off into the distance at an invisible object of interest.

"Uh… Hehe… It doesn't normally do this…" Black tried to explain. He went up to his Pokémon and began to push on him. "Come on!" he continued, "Attack the Sceptile so we can win this thing!"

"RESHIIIIII!" The legendary let out with a roar. This startled Black and caused him to stumble back a bit, but the scream was obviously not meant for him as Reshiram was still staring at nothing.

"Reshiram…" he tried again, "Could you…"

The beast let out another roar and took to the skies, flying up and out of the stadium in a heartbeat.

"No!" Black cried, reaching for Reshiram's ball again, "Get back!"

It was too late. The Pokémon was flying far away at this point.

"Woah!" the announcer screamed, "This doesn't seem to be good! We'll… uh… take a 10 minute break folks…"

Black tensed up in a moment, and he ran back into his side of the stadium without saying a word.

"Wait!" Emerald shouted, "Where are you going?!"

"I'm going to find Reshiram!" he called back, "It's acting weird! Something is wrong!"

Emerald began to chase after his friend. The battle could wait.

In the stadium seats, a similar story was unfolding as Ruby, Sapphire, and White followed each other to the backdoor with full intentions to chase down Black's Pokémon.

The hidden figure that had been watching them got up to leave too, but no one noticed.

* * *

**More AN: I promise that the next round will not take as long as this one did. Promise! :D Also, I will finally cut all of the build up and minor action in favor of some really chaotic full-on good vs. evil battle sequences in the next round. Get ready to join me for the (hopeful) awesomeness that will be "Round 21: The Infiltration!" Speculate in the review section. I'll see you then.**


	21. Round 21: The Infiltration

**AN: Hey, everyone! Remember me? I'm still alive! Sorry this one took so long to update, but I was struggling with school, Spring Break, and inspiration. I just could not seem to sit down and type this one for some reason. I still got it out quicker than the last one, though! So, HA! Anyway, it is out now, and I'm pretty happy with how it ended up looking. Some conflict really arises in this round, and I think I did a pretty decent job of making it interesting. As always, I will hope for better next time. Also, the next round will hopefully actually come out on time (two weeks from yesterday).**

******Une version française de cette histoire est disponible ici: ****Absolette**.

**********Ship Warning: None.  
**

******I do not own or have any rights to any part of the Pokemon franchise whatsoever.**

* * *

**Location: Ilex Forest- Animeverse**

**Invasion Countdown: 22 hours 20 minutes**

"Dis is da best plan we've had yet!" Meowth chirped.

"I agree." Said James, "We just stay in here until we come up with an inconspicuous way to leave."

The Team Rocket trio was currently huddled up inside of a small supply closet in the Ilex base. They figured no one was going to search for them there. It bought them some time to think things over without their rocket duties interrupting them. Their little experience with Misty earlier had left them confused. It had left them scared. And the more time that passed by, the less comfortable they felt abut the new Team Rocket.

"I say that we just grab what we have and make a bolt for the exit!" Jessie offered, "Let's be honest. No one is going to miss us, and even if the world goes to heck, at least it won't be our faults!"

"But the boss has his eyes on the multiverse." James reminded her, "Eventually, there won't be anywhere left to hide."

"And when he finally finds us again, he aint gonna be happy." Meowth finished.

The three friends all gulped at once.

"We… um… We can hide in the forest!" Jessie tried again, "We have plenty of experience in living on next to nothing, and there's no way he'll chop down all of it! We can just be hermits for the rest of our lives!"

"But ya've gotta wonder if we'll ever be able to hide good enough to avoid absolutely everyone." Meowth replied, "Dere will definitely be other people with de exact same idea, and if da boss starts huntin' 'em down, he might as well be huntin' us down."

"Oh! What kind of a conversation is this anyway?!" she shouted back, "You're a Pokémon, Meowth! You can blend in practically anywhere!"

There was silence for a moment.

"Have either of you ever considered that all this is _our_ fault?" James asked.

The other two looked at him as he rested a glove beneath his chin. "I mean, think about it. We're the ones that 'rescued' the new boss in the first place. Even after he told us where he came from and what he was looking for, we still brought him straight to our headquarters. We should have known better than to trust someone from another dimension!"

Jessie and Meowth looked back at each other with wide eyes and vacant expressions.

"…So…" the feline began "…whatevah happens from here on out…"

"…is because of us…" Jessie finished.

The two friends lunged toward each other in a desperate hug of fear. "WE CAUSED THE END OF THE WORLD!"

"…Well… Not quite." James interrupted again.

Jessie and Meowth froze in their terror-stricken states, both hoping for good news.

"Technically, we've got a better chance at fixing the problem than anyone else does… We're three of the five people who know about the boss' darkball remote…"

"That's it!" Jessie cried as she let go of Meowth and clapped her hands together. "All we have to do is get our hands on that remote!"

"But how do ya plan on doin' dat?" Meowth asked.

"And what happens if we get caught?" James echoed.

A knock at the door suspended the conversation, and the startled trio jumped in fear, knocking over cleaning supplies, storage shelves, and the mop bucket.

"Um… Hello?" a voice asked from outside the room, "Security? Are you in there?"

"Go away!" Meowth shouted.

"We're sick!" said James.

"Um… Okay…" the voice started again, "Well, we've got some prisoners that were just transported from-"

"Oh, for Pete's sake! Just put them in yourself!" Jessie screamed.

"And get someone else to cover our posts!" James added.

* * *

"Well… alright…" the rocket grunt responded as he turned away from the supply closet to face the problem at hand.

He had a large group of kids behind him… and one adult. Five of them were prisoners. Five more were apparently undercover agents. And one of them was Giovanni's very son. The situation could not have arisen at a more chaotic time.

"Well?" Silver asked him, "Do we have access to the prison chamber so that my agents and I may drop off these pests?"

Pearl yanked on the chains that bound Drew for good measure.

"Ow!" the boy whispered, "Easy on the wrists."

The grunt that was leading the team nervously glanced back at the supply closet for a moment before addressing the issue. "Um… It would appear as though our security is… off duty at the moment…"

Silver gave him a well-placed scowl. Yellow, Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum followed his lead. Charon was already scowling.

"Um… Well…" the grunt began to stutter as sweat formed behind his neck, "Maybe we should contact some higher-ups to help us deal with-"

"No." Silver interrupted, "I want to see the inside of our prison chamber _now_! After I am done dropping off these troublemakers I will see about speaking to my father, but until then, I want this whole thing to seem like a big surprise. Understand?"

The grunt nodded forcefully. "Yes, yes. Of course, sir! But we don't have anyone running the security room at the moment, and we need their approval to enter the prison chamber."

"You can have some of my men run the room." The boy countered.

Diamond, Pearl, Platinum, and Charon stepped forward to volunteer, but the grunt only shook his head. "If these guys have actually been undercover for as long as you say they have, there's no way they'll know how to run security."

Silver let out a sigh before turning to face the nearest hallway. He waited for a moment, and eventually two more rocket grunts passed by on their way to an errand, one man and one woman.

"Hey!" he interrupted, " Get over here." They approached him without hesitation. Silver could get used to this kind of respect. "My security team is off duty, and I need a momentary replacement." The boy continued, "You two just got recruited."

Sure enough, neither rocket questioned him, and the expanded party continued to move forward. They stopped only for a moment at the security room. The area was dimly lit, and everything was covered with a pale, rusty metal. The two large doors that read 'SECURITY' in red letters already hung open.

Diamond, Pearl, Platinum, and Charon eagerly entered the chamber behind the two rockets they had brought with them, and their eyes glossed over the massive number of cameras, switches, buttons, and lights that were covering nearly every solid surface. The sheer size of the security room was testimony to the sheer size of the base itself. A quick jog to the control panel with their "friends" revealed a kind of approval system that was in place for anyone wishing to enter the prison chamber. Silver and the other dex holders were currently shown on the screen.

"BINGO!" Diamond cheered, "Let's check 'em in, guys!"

The rockets were again happy to oblige.

* * *

"You think this is it?" Ash whispered from a bush.

Tobias slowly peaked his head around a tree to see the small metal building. It looked old and ran down. Rust covered every surface of the structure, but it still bared resemblance to a solid metal box with a single door. There was absolutely no reason for it to be so far out in the woods. It was discreet. It looked uninteresting. It was big enough to allow small parties in at a time but not big enough to cause one to suspect it lead to an underground base. It's biggest give away, though, was its pointlessness. There appeared to be no reason for the metal box to exist in the middle of Ilex Forest. It was definitely hiding something.

Tobias looked down at Ash from where he was and nodded. "This is definitely the place."

"Okay." Ash began, "Pikachu and I are going to go around to the other side of the base and take cover. All we need you to do is provoke them enough to draw some people out. We'll sneak in among the masses scrambling outside."

"Just make sure you sneak in quickly." Tobias countered, "I may have to flatten this puny building before I get any rockets to admit their hiding spot. I don't want you standing near the area Latios is attacking for too long."

The young trainer smiled and gave a thumbs-up. "No need to worry! I've got this!"

"Pikachu!" squeaked his little rodent.

* * *

The flood lights above the prison chamber turned red, and a loud buzzer went off for a moment as the mighty metal door swung open to allow the dex holders in. The single rocket from before led their party, and as they walked into the chamber that was half stone and half iron, the dex holders began to realize that the cells were surprisingly empty.

Gold's eyes darted from one empty room to another, as he was lead down the long tunnel. All he saw was a few cameras, bars, and chains. Red was nowhere in sight. In fact, no one was anywhere in sight. Crystal (who was chained right next to him), gave Gold a worryful glance as if to ask what was going on. The boy only shrugged in response.

May and her friends were in the back of the line, a fair distance away from the rocket that was leading them, and the coordinator found it safe enough to whisper quietly to Yellow.

"Yellow," she began, "Where is Red?"

"I… don't know…" the girl responded, her eyes focused on the chambers that she could not quite see yet.

"You said he looks like Ash, right?" she tried again.

"Well… Technically, I didn't say that. You did."

"Will you two keep quiet?" Drew butted in, "If that rocket hears us talking about Red and Ash, we're busted!"

"Oh, please…" May laughed, "There is no way he can make out what we're saying if we whisper."

"Well, better safe than sorry." He shot back.

Max groaned. "You two arguing is actually worse than being chained up and brought to a Team Rocket prison cell. That's a new low."

Yellow decided to stop the bickering and solve their problem with a more direct approach. "Um… Excuse me! Rocket grunt… sir?" she called out.

The rocket in the front turned around to face her. "I told you... My name is Chad."

May, Max, and Drew all immediately shut up.

"Uh… Right. Sorry. Chad." Yellow continued, "You see, Silver and I are particularly worried about these prisoners that we captured, and we were hoping that you could direct us to the part of this cell that you keep the absolute highest priority prisoners in."

Silver caught on to what she was doing. "Yeeeah!" he began, "Do you have some sort of special chamber where you keep the _really _serious threats, like, I don't know, powerful trainers, Pokémon champions, etc?"

"Nope." He admitted, "All we've got is this one chamber, and, at the moment, one prisoner."

"ONE PRISONER?!" they all shouted at once, nearly throwing the rocket back.

"Uh… Y-y-yeah… One prisoner…" he muttered, "Why?"

Silver narrowed his eyes. "Bring us to the prisoner."

* * *

Meanwhile, back in the security room, the Sinnoh dex holders kept a watch on the entire situation from camera. The two rockets they were with did not seem to mind teaching them to run the room, which probably meant that whatever errand they were on before was not very important.

"So, do we actually have any prisoners in here at the moment?" Pearl asked.

"The chambers do seem quite empty." Platinum noted while looking at a security screen for the room in question.

"Well…" the male rocket began as he stepped up to the monitor and typed in a command, "We do have one pri-"

He stopped in mid-sentence. His eyes fell on a separate monitor.

"Is… Something wrong?" the female rocket asked, moving her eyes to where his lay.

The dex holders and Charon stepped up to the security screens as well. They all focused on what had grabbed the first rocket's attention. It was a camera stationed outside. Through the brush and some branches, the team could make out a small metal building no bigger than a tool shed.

"What is that?" Diamond asked.

"That's our main entrance." The female rocket explained.

"But _who_ is that?" the male rocket spoke as he pointed to a man cloaked in red with long gray hair, standing in front of the structure.

The female's face grew stern. "Uh… One of ours?"

The trainer on screen tossed a pokéball into the air, and in a glorious flash of light, a latios emerged before him.

Everyone in the room gasped.

"WOAH!" "Oh my!" "COOL!" "AMAZING!" "HE'S GOT A LATIOS?!"

"Wait…" Pearl began as he stroked his chin in thought, "If he's from Team Rocket, then what is he doing wi-"

Pearl was interrupted by the Luster Purge that was immediately launched at the entrance building, blowing the entire roof off.

* * *

The second party of dex holders in the prison chamber had picked up pace now. The rocket that was guiding them through the area felt a certain sense of urgency when everyone at once had asked to see the single prisoner that they had. This whole situation was becoming weirder and weirder for him by the minute, and he was starting to wonder if this was actually some sort of elaborate performance review or something.

Either way, none of the dex holders were comfortable with the situation now. They knew they had looked suspicious when they made such a big deal out of seeing the prisoner. They also knew they were still being monitored by the rockets in the security room. They were on edge, expecting to be found out at any moment. They just needed to hope that this single prisoner was Red, Blue, Green, or… someone who could put them on a solid trail.

The rocket grunt had nearly run out of breath when he slowed to a stop in front of the single occupied prison chamber in the entire base. "Here… Here she is…" he huffed, "Our only current prisoner."

"She?" Silver asked as she walked closer to the cell bars.

Then, as the entire group neared the chamber, they saw a lone red headed girl, curled up into a ball and sleeping in the back of the cell. The dex holders knew she was not one of theirs, but they could not quite make her out.

May and Max, however, were a different story.

"MISTY!" they both cried at once, startling the dex holders and waking up the girl.

"WOAH! AH! Who is it?!" the redhead screamed as she darted to her feet and looked around her cell.

"Misty!" Max waved at her with a smile.

"Over here!" May followed up.

Gold leaned back to the siblings and let out a whisper. "You two know this girl?"

Neither answered. Drew only shrugged.

Misty leaned up against the bars of her cell to see the visitors more clearly. "May? Max? Is that you?"

"It sure is!" May continued with her wave.

"We thought you were gonna be a parallel dimension version of Ash!" Max commented.

"Well… This is getting awkward." The rocket began, "Maybe we should-"

"Wait." Silver interrupted, putting his hand in front of the man's face, "I had you lead us here to question her. She has obviously had past involvement with my prisoners. I need information."

The rocket stepped away.

Misty only scoffed at Silver. "If you think for even a moment that you sick creeps are gonna get _any_ information out of me, you are sadly mistaken."

Silver looked the girl over for a moment. There was a Misty in his dimension too. This one dressed a little differently, but that hardly mattered. In all likelihood, since she knew May and Max, she was probably an ally, and she might even have some information on Red, Blue, and Green's whereabouts… or at least this _Ash_ that he had heard a little about.

His eyes darted to the rocket grunt that was still babysitting them. Then they darted to the cameras that were monitoring the room. Silver could not tell Misty that they were friends. It would blow their cover. He would have to somehow interrogate the information out of her. He had to play bad cop.

Silver leaned his face into the bars that separated him from the water trainer, and he gave a serious frown. "You should just cooperate with me." He began, "I think you'll find that I can be very stubborn."

Misty leaned her face right in front of his and looked him straight in the eyes. "So can I."

The others simply watched.

* * *

The security room was getting loud. All of the noise that the Latios was causing outside ran through the camera speakers like a knife ran through butter. Booms, crashes, buzzes, and screams flooded the dex holders' ears as well as the rockets'.

"CAN'T WE JUST TURN OFF THE SOUND?!" Pearl asked, his ears covered.

"WHY IS HE ATTACKING THE MAIN ENTRANCE ANYWAY?!" Diamond pointed out, "HE'S NOT EVEN MAKING AN EFFORT TO GET INSIDE!"

Platinum was doing her best not to raise her voice, but even she was growing weary of the constant attacks. "CAN WE PLEASE DO SOMETHING?" she asked.

The two rockets at the control panel were busy discussing the pros and cons of actually triggering an alarm for the situation.

"Well, he hasn't done anything to show that he actually knows our base is here!" the man suggested.

"But he's still _destroying_ our main entry point!" the woman countered.

"But he has a latios!" the man came again.

"So?! That's a great Pokémon to steal!" the woman tried.

"OH! WILL YOU TWO JUST PRESS THE DANG ALARM?!" Pearl finally let out as he slammed his hand down on a large red button in front of the duo.

On cue, a loud, echoing siren began to sound throughout the entire base, and a voice followed it over the intercom shouting, "Warning! Warning! The Base is currently under attack! Warning! Warning!"

Diamond slapped Pearl in the back of the head. "Way to go, genius! You just made it louder!"

* * *

It was so loud, as a matter of fact, that it could even be heard outside.

Tobias smiled at the noise. "Perfect."

Ash and Pikachu were crouched in a bush behind the torn up entrance. They smiled too.

* * *

Silver and Misty were still engaged in their battle of wills when the alarm sounded through their chamber as well.

"Warning! Warning! The Base is currently under attack! Warning! Warning!"

"We've been found out!" Gold yelled.

"What?" asked the rocket.

Silver spun around from Misty's cell and knocked the man to the ground with a swift punch to the face. He was out cold.

"Alright!" Yellow began as she grabbed the handcuff keys from her pocket, "Time for plan B!"

She tossed two of the keys to Silver and began working on getting May out of her cuffs.

"What's plan B?" May asked.

"Get the heck out of here!" Silver answered.

Misty was watching all of this go on from her cell, and she was now more confused than ever. "What… What are you-"

"It's okay, Misty!" May cheered, as she was unleashed from her cuffs and showed her wrists to the gym leader. "They're our friends, see?"

"Wait…" she tried again, "I'm still not…"

Silver tossed a pokéball to the floor in front of him, and a great rhyperior emerged from the orb. "Misty, you're coming with us!" he explained.

"Wait! Wait! Wait!" she shouted, "I'm _SO_ confused right now! Do I know you peop-"

"RHYPERIOR! USE ROCK WRECKER!" the boy shouted, prompting his giant Pokémon to hurdle a huge boulder from the surrounding wall right into the cage that held Misty.

"WAAAAHHH!" the girl screamed as she dodged out of the way of the many dented bars that flew into her chamber.

* * *

The rockets in the security room did not like that.

"Hey!" the man shouted, "Those agents that we brought into the prison earlier are helping that gym leader escape!"

"It also looks like they knocked out Chad while we were busy focusing on the guy with the latios!" the woman added.

Diamond, Peal, Platinum, and Charon sweatdropped.

"Well…" Platinum began slowly, "Let us take some time to reason this out. You do not want to jump to any unfounded conclusions."

The man hit the Intruder Alert button for the Prison Chamber.

"INTRUDER IN PRISON CHAMBER ALPHA!" the intercom rang, "I REPEAT! INTRUDER IN PRISON CHAMBER ALPHA!"

"ARGH!" Diamond shouted, covering his ears again, "Now there are _TWO alarms_ going off!"

"THAT IS THE EXACT OPPOSITE OF WHAT I MEANT BY TAKING TIME TO REASON IT OUT!" Platinum shouted.

"Oh, no!" The male rocket chuckled, "We realize what's going on here."

The two villains turned around to face the three dex holders.

"You three entered in here with them." The woman continued, "So, if they aren't really rockets, then that means-"

KLONK!

Both rockets fell to the floor before the dex holders' very eyes. Charon stood behind them with a metal pipe in his hand.

"Well…" the scientist reasoned, "They were going to figure it out sooner or later."

* * *

Rockets ran out of the base in pairs at first. Then in fours. Tobias was having a blast. It was just like hitting a Beedrill nest. A few rockets would come out, make some cocky remark about him finding their base, send out a few Pokémon, and be wiped out almost instantly by his legendary dragon. Tobias was not really used to fighting more than one Pokémon at a time, but he adapted to the situation fast enough. Latios was just so quick and so agile that he was difficult for anyone to hit. The old trainer roared with laughter as he sent rockets packing.

Ash was focused on something else. He still sat in his bush looking at the pokétch he had stolen from Lance. He was keeping a close eye on the red dot that appeared on the map. It signified Giovanni- or so he thought. He wanted to draw Giovanni out before he slipped in. Ash wanted Mewtwo's psychic powers to be focused entirely on _one thing_ when he snuck into the base. He did not have enough confidence to dive into the area when a mind reader might be waiting for him. So Ash waited. He focused on the pokétch, glancing up only every now and then to make sure none of the rockets saw him.

"Don't worry, Misty. I'm coming for you."

* * *

The moan of the siren was agonizing, and it only added unneeded pressure to the situation in the prison chamber. May was explaining the circumstances to Misty as Yellow struggled to unlock Drew from his cuffs.

"An alternate dimension!" May squealed, "Can you believe that?!"

"Somehow, I think I'll manage." The water trainer replied bluntly, "But how exactly did you and Max get involved in all of this?"

Drew, now free of his cuffs, walked over to Misty and extended a hand. "Hi. The name's Drew."

"Alright!" Crystal interrupted, free of her cuffs as well, "There's no time to explain! We've got to get out of here and regroup at a safer place!"

"Agreed!" Said Yellow, "Since everyone is out of their chains now, maybe we should-"

She was interrupted by her pokégear ringing.

"Um… Excuse me for a second." She tried, as she flipped her phone open to talk.

"You're taking a phone call?!" Gold shouted, "Now?!"

"Quiet!" Crystal nudged him, "Unless her provider somehow gets service across dimensions, there are only a few important people who could be calling her."

"Yellow!" Pearl's voice came from the other end, "Yellow, are you there?"

"Yeah! I can hear you!" she replied, "What's going on, guys?"

"Hey." Came Diamond's voice, "Let me see the pokétch… We just thought you should know that the first alarm wasn't meant for you! There is someone attacking the base from the main entrance!"

"What does that mean?" she asked.

Pearl's voice again. "It means that you need to find a safer way out of here! We've got no idea who the guy at the entrance is, but he's got a latios, and he seems to be in the mood to blow stuff up!"

"Well, where do we go?" she prodded.

Platinum's voice seemed to come on for a moment, but static soon took over the connection, and Yellow could no longer understand what was being said.

The connection cut off, and Yellow responded by striking the side of her pokégear a few times.

"What happened?" Misty asked.

"They… They just faded off…" Yellow muttered.

"Do you think they're okay?" came Drew.

Crystal began to stroke her chin inquisitively. "You know, that entire security room is made of metal, and it probably has a hundred different radio signals, video signals, and the like pouring in and out of it at any given moment. I'm surprised you were able to get a connection with them in the first place."

Yellow stuck the pokégear back into her pocket. "Okay. We'll just have to send someone to find them in person, then." The girl pointed at May. "Alright, May, since you, Max, and Drew already know Misty and are probably the most familiar with her, you take her back the way we came in. Don't take her through the main entrance. It's dangerous there. Take her _where we came in_. The helicopter entrance. Find a way out over there."

"No." Misty insisted with a shake of her head.

"No?" Yellow asked.

"My Pokémon." Misty explained, "They still have my Pokémon. I'm not leaving here without them."

"Look, Misty," Max began, "I know your Pokémon are important to you, but you don't even-"

"I know where they are." Misty interrupted, "Those three idiots told me earlier."

"Wait." May interjected, "You mean _the_ three idiots? Are they involved in this too?"

"Oh yeah." Misty chuckled.

"Fine." Yellow sighed, "May, Max, Drew, Misty, you go find Misty's Pokémon, then get the heck out of here!" She moved her finger to point at Gold and Crystal. "Gold, Crys, Silver, we'll go… Wait… Where is Silver?"

It hit them all at once. Where _was_ Silver?

Everyone began to look around the room at once. No one was there.

"I… He… He was here just a second ago…" Crystal tried.

Yellow facepalmed herself. "Where could he have possibly-"

"His dad." Gold interrupted, "He's going to find his dad."

That caught everyone's attention. The entire room's eyes fell on Gold.

"How sure are you?" Yellow asked.

"Positive." Gold nodded, "It's all he ever thinks about. He fully intended to do it as soon as we rescued our seniors."

"Wait." Misty interrupted, "Am I missing something? Who's his dad?"

Yellow began to sweat. "Never mind. We're running out of time. It's a wonder no one has barged in on us yet. Misty, you need to go find your Pokémon. Gold, Crys, you two need to go find the Sinnoh team and get them out of here." She turned around and began to walk toward the exit. "I'll deal with Silver."

"Wait!" Gold yelled as he began to walk after her, "You don't know Silver like I do. Crys and I should be going after him!"

"No." Yellow insisted without slowing down, "It's going to be harder to get to the security room than it will be for me to hide around the base until I find Silver. You will need more powerful Pokémon to get through the rockets that we all know are coming at us from that direction. It will need to be a team of two, and you and Crys are the best!"

Gold stopped in his tracks and watched Yellow continue off to the back exit of the prison chamber. He nodded solemnly. She was right.

* * *

The dot moved. Ash saw the dot move. It was moving closer to him. He almost cheered from where he was hiding. Giovanni was headed out, and that meant Mewtwo was as well.

Ash peaked out from his bush for a second to see Tobias doing battle with six different rockets. Perfect. Between the tons of different troops that had poured out of the base by now, they had managed to get a few decent shots off of Latios but nothing dangerous. The Pokémon kept dipping and ducking its way in the sky, hitting its opponents with long range attacks. It was a marvel and brilliant distraction. Some of the rockets had resorted to attempting to attack Tobias himself, so the trainer now hid among the brush as well. It was the perfect combination of guerrilla warfare and straight up muscle. Ash was just glad the boss had taken the bait.

"Alright, Pikachu, are ya ready for this?" he whispered to his companion.

"Pika-pikachu!" he assured him with a thumbs up.

Ash dived out of his bush and pressed against the remains of the rocket entry, Pikachu at his side, and as soon as the next group of rockets emerged from the building, Ash slid in between the pushing and shoving crowd to try to find a way in. Fortunately for him, the many defeated rockets that were running away from Tobias provided decent cover for a way inside, and once in the building, the trainer quietly followed the exhausted troops down a long staircase that descended into the ground. Ash Ketchum had infiltrated the Team Rocket base.

* * *

"Excuse me!"

"Pardon me!"

"Coming through!"

So rang the voices of the Team Rocket trio as they tried to inconspicuously pass through the massive number of rocket troops that were running every which way inside the base.

"Geeze!" Jessie sighed, "You would think that two major security alarms going off on opposite sides of the base meant the end of the world!"

"Well, to be fair, it might for us." James admitted, "After all, we _do_ have a ridiculously powerful Pokémon in here. Maybe the International Police found out where we are and came to shut us down!"

"Ah, quiet!" Meowth insisted, "Der aint no way dat anyone could beat da boss at dis point anyway… or, at least, not without da information we've got."

"Right." James remembered, "By the way, are we actually going to act on that?"

"Look, I'm sure we'll do something about it eventually." Jessie assured him, "But, for now, we are going to our office to think this through. I'm not going outside _or_ to the prison chamber if it means supporting this whole 'end of the multiverse' thing!"

"EXCUSE ME?" Came a voice that caused the three to stop in fear.

The trio began to turn around, shivering, as they recognized the voice.

The Team Rocket Executive, Proton, stood behind them. Proton always gave the trio the creeps, especially when he may have just heard them going against direct orders.

"Y-y-y-y-yes, sir?" the three asked him in unison.

"What are you three doing here?" the man asked, "Don't you hear the alarms?! Either get to the main entrance or get to Prison Chamber Alpha!"

"Umm… Well…" James began.

"Ya see…" came Meowth.

"There's a perfectly… logical… explanation as to why we aren't following the rest of the rockets…" Jessie finished.

He narrowed his eyes. "And that is?"

"…We're sick." Meowth explained.

"All of you? … At the same time?"

"Yep." "Such a pity." "Nice talking to you, sir. Gotta go!"

The three rockets shot off toward their office, leaving nothing but dust behind.

Proton sighed and pulled a radio out of his back pocket.

"Sir?" he spoke into it.

"Yes?" came a voice.

"Station 1 is entirely empty of rockets."

* * *

"Pity." Giovanni responded. He was still over seeing the production of his dimensional laser. It was nearing completion now, and it annoyed him that an interruption had to come at such a time.

The man pulled his darkball from his belt and smiled. "If you want something done right…"

* * *

Ilex Forest _was_ huge. Red's mouth was agape in awe as he flew over the massive amount of trees in the area. They had been circling the center of the forest for a while now. How were they ever going to find Ash in all of this?

"ANY SIGN OF HIM?" Green shouted through the wind.

Red narrowed his eyes further on the ground. All he saw was brush. Tree after tree after tree. "I DON'T REALLY KNOW WHAT I'M LOOKING FOR!" he admitted.

Lance reemerged from the trees on his dragonite. "I JUST GOT BACK FROM LAND! NO SIGN OF ANYTHING DOWN THERE!"

"LOOK FOR SOME KIND OF METALLIC STRUCTURE!" Brock shouted, "LIKE A BIG BASE!"

"NO!" Blue insisted, "IF THEY JUST HAD A BIG BASE SITTING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FORREST, THEY WOULD HAVE BEEN FOUND OUT YEARS AGO! LOOK FOR COMMOTION! LOOK FOR RUSTLING TREES, FLEEING POKEMON, OR-"

A huge explosion of purple energy came from a thick tree line just to the right of Red.

"OR THAT?!" Red asked.

"OR THAT!" Blue confirmed.

Green immediately steered Ditty toward the explosion, but Red, Blue, and Lance remained stopped.

"WAIT!" Red warned.

Green pulled her ditto to a halt. "What's up?! Ash and Misty are down there right?"

"Maybe." Gary confirmed, "But there is also something capable of blowing up the entire tree line down there."

Green huffed at him. She did not like his sarcasm.

"Gary is right." Lance admitted, "Team Rocket has Mewtwo, remember? We don't want to give away our positions so easily. Everyone follow me to the ground. We're gonna quietly fly closer to the surface and get a good look at what's going on."

"Right!" Red shouted.

Blue and Green nodded in return.

* * *

"So," Giovanni taunted as he stepped out of the completely vaporized building that used to be the entrance to his lair, "You're the little troublemaker that has been attacking my base, huh?"

Tobias did not show any emotion nor did he speak.

Giovanni noticed this, and he raised an eyebrow. "Surely you are wondering how I managed such a powerful entrance?"

The trainer said nothing.

Giovanni snapped his fingers, and Mewtwo shot out of the hole in the ground that was left. With a great psychic aura surrounding him, the Pokémon shot a brilliant streak of purple into the sky before landing with an earth-shaking stomp.

Tobias shook a little, but he remained silent.

"Come now." Giovanni reasoned, "At least show a little awe. Your inconvenience will cause you to be the first to witness the true power of this majestic marvel of science at my control!"

Nothing.

Giovanni chuckled a little remembering his conflict with his counterpart. "Well, okay, not _the first_, but still. It is an honor."

Tobias simply glanced up at his latios.

Giovanni did the same. "Is that your Pokémon?"

"It is."

"It looks powerful."

"It is."

Giovanni sighed. "I don't know why you're here or who you're working for- if anyone at all, but what do you say to a nice little Pokémon battle before you die? I haven't gotten to really test this baby out yet."

Tobias smiled. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

And with that, Latios dive bombed Mewtwo.

* * *

**More AN: I hope no one finds the lack of Red in this round too disturbing. I felt really bad that I did not get to include much of him, Lance, Blue, Green, Brock, and Gary. In fact, this round pretty much centered around the Johto/Sinnoh team for a change, which it weird. I'm still glad that I got to give those dex holders some time in the spotlight, though. They are a lot of fun to write and have some of the most hilarious yet occasionally epic personalities (I'm looking at you, Gold). In case you could not tell, next round is going to be hectic. For those of you keeping score back home: Team Red is closing in on the Rocket base cautiously to avoid direct confrontation with Mewtwo. Tobias about to put his legendaries head to head with Mewtwo. Ash is infiltrating the Team Rocket base looking for Misty. Team Hoenn is going after Misty's Pokemon. Team Sinnoh is trapped in the security room. Team Johto is going to find Team Sinnoh, who is trapped in the security room. Silver is going after Giovanni. Yellow is going after Silver. The TRio is avoiding work and trying to come up with a plan of action. Aaaand we did NOT see the Unova/Hoenn team today. Maybe next time. ;) Until then...**


	22. Round 22: Chaos Ensues

**Author's Notes: ...Yep. I really don't know what to say here... Um... Enjoy the round! I think it turned out well! Chaos continues, and forgive me for my tardiness. Finals week, ya know?**

******Une version française de cette histoire est disponible ici: ****Absolette**.

**********Ship Warning: MangaQuestshipping  
**

******I do not own or have any rights to any part of the Pokemon franchise whatsoever.**

* * *

**Location: Sinnoh Resort Area - Mangaverse**

**Invasion Countdown: 21 hours 48 minutes**

The Resort Area of Battle Zone Island was easily the most relaxing place for visiting trainers. The small, town-like area presented a carefree atmosphere for those who had spent all day at the Battle Frontier. The air was warm (if not slightly humid), the trees provided plenty of shade, and the beach was just a forest hike away. The simplicity of the resort really worked to its advantage. Instead of having countless acres dedicated expensive relaxation equipment, the staff just allowed Mother Nature to do her work and invited the residents to use the open fields for Pokémon training.

So imagine the shock on their faces when a small group of kids came racing through the land after a legendary dragon.

"RESHIII!" Reshiram shouted as it soared above the resort.

Everyone heard the enormous cry, and trainers everywhere looked to the sky in awe and wonder of the great majestic beast. Some were not familiar with the Pokémon. Others would have tried to capture it, but a large braviary followed it closely behind with a young boy holding onto its feet.

Black steadied himself beneath his flying-type Pokémon as he managed to get Reshiram's pokéball out again and aim it at the disobedient monster.

"Alright, Brav! I've got the pokéball!" he announced.

"Braaa!" the bird cried in response.

"I just need you to keep me steady…" he murmured as he lined the pokéball up with his dragon. He closed his left eye so that he could focus on the creature perfectly, and then he pressed the 'return' button again. A red beam lunged out.

"Give it up!" came a shout from the ground. It was Emerald holding onto the back of his trusty sceptile as it dashed through the fields below. "There is no way you're going to catch that thing!" he continued, "If it wanted to leave us in the dust, it would have already! Obviously, it's trying to lead us somewhere!"

Black refused to listen to him. He continued looking ahead at the beam, but it faded just as it came within reaching distance of Reshiram. Emerald was right.

"See what I mean?" the boy asked from below, "It has got to be taking us somewhere!"

"Well, it's running out of island!" Black responded, "We've been chasing it for half an hour now, and we'll be coming upon the beach in a short distance!"

"Maybe what it's looking for is not on this island!" came a third voice.

Black and Emerald turned around to see a tropius coming up from behind them with Sapphire, Ruby, and White squeezed onto the Pokémon's back. It flew through the air quickly, but it was carrying a lot of weight.

"Boy, you guys are fast!" Sapphire continued with a smile, "I thought we were never gonna catch up with you!"

Black was taken aback by the other group's sudden appearance. "How long have you been following us?" he asked.

"We left the stadium just a few seconds after you did!" Sapphire explained.

"And I'm regretting every moment of it!" White said, looking down from her seat, "I can't stand flying through the air this fast!"

She clutched onto Ruby a little bit tighter, and he, in turn, grabbed onto Sapphire, "I feel your pain!" he agreed, "I think I'm going to throw up!"

Sapphire sighed. "You two are no fun."

"Hey! Heads up!" Emerald announced, "Your prediction is about to come true, Black!"

Black spun his head back toward Reshiram and noticed that they were coming upon an ocean. There was no way that he could ride Brav over the whole thing. He had to pray that Reshiram would either stop or accidentally let him get close enough with his pokéball.

"Come on, Reshiram! Slow down!" he shouted.

The dragon looked over its shoulder for only a moment as it flew closer and closer to the sea.

"RESHIIIII!" It cried again, and without a second thought, the creature soared past the coastline and out above the water.

Brav stopped as he reached the coast, and Black sighed.

Emerald stopped moments later just below his friend.

"Well…" he began, "Reshiram sure doesn't look like it's turning around…"

"Brav, you can lower me down now." Black moaned.

The valiant Pokémon gave a soft "coo," and he lowered his master solemnly to the ground. Black only sighed again and returned the bird to its pokéball. The others stopped behind Black soon after.

"Well, now what?" Sapphire asked.

"Now, I'm going to sit down on the floor and hope that my head stops spinning!" Ruby offered as he jumped off of the tropius and stumbled toward the nearest tree.

White disembarked as well and walked over to comfort her friend.

"There, there…" she said, patting him on the back, "It'll be okay, Black. If Reshiram really was trying to lead us somewhere, then it'll probably find some way to come back and get us."

"But what if it wasn't?" he moped, "What if it just ran off because it doesn't like me or for another random reason entirely?" he turned to face White appropriately, nearly with tears in his eyes, "I mean, I used to have trouble controlling Reshiram before… What if I just lost control again and now it's running away from me?"

"It's not." Came another mysterious voice.

The dex holders looked behind them to see a dark shadow emerge from the forest to the left.

"I know where it's going." The figure insisted.

"You?" Emerald piped up again, "How would you know?"

"I could hear its cry." The shadow explained, "Did you not hear it? 'Follow me! Follow me! Danger! Danger!' it cried."

At this point, all of the dex holders had gathered in a small group to observe this strange man.

"But wait…" Black began, "If you could hear Reshiram speak, than you must be…"

The man walked out of the shade and into the sunlight to reveal he wore a white shirt with khaki pants and a solid black baseball cap over his long green hair. He smiled as he said, "Hello, Black! It has been a while."

"N!" White cried with joy right before grabbing onto Black's hand and yanking him over to see their old friend. "Oh my gosh! It _has_ been a while! Black and I have been looking everywhere for you! What are you doing here?!"

N rubbed the back of his neck, embarrassed for a moment. "Well… I was in town to see the special event that the Battle Frontier was holding…"

Black still had not spoken, but that caused him and White to both raise an eyebrow.

"Wait a minute. Battle Frontier?" Ruby asked from farther back, "I was under the impression that you thought Pokémon battling was horrible and barbaric."

"Hey… That's right…" Emerald noticed.

"Eh." Sapphire shrugged, "Ya learn ta live with it."

"Um… Well, yes…" N explained, looking over Black and White for a moment to address the other group, "That would be a… fairly accurate assessment of my thoughts…"

"Then why were you here?" White prodded.

"Well…" N paused. "I've been trying to…. Expand myself."

"Expand?" she asked again.

"Of course!" he defended, "Don't you remember that whole adventure we had? Truths? Ideals? Good? Bad? There was Team Plasma and the legendary dragons?"

"Well, yeah." She responded, "It was kind of a big deal."

"Well, what I gathered from that is that there are all kinds of different perspectives and lifestyles and different ways of looking at things…"

"Riiight…" White continued.

N paused again. "Well… I just thought… I thought that going to a battling event like this one that was raising money for charity might help me understand the good that can come out of Pokémon training."

"So, you're on a research trip?" Emerald offered.

"Yes! I think that would be a good thing to call it!" N confirmed, "You see, I-"

"Okay! We're wasting time here!" Black finally spoke, "Did you say you knew where Reshiram was going?"

"Right." N nodded, "Of course I do."

"How?"

N let out a sly smile. "Well, unlike you, Black, I can communicate with Pokémon."

The boy turned around and looked off into the distance that Reshiram disappeared to. "Did it say where it was going or something?"

"No." N admitted with a shake of his head, but I know someone who I think is headed to the same place."

The entire party looked toward N with confused expressions. How could he possibly know that?

The former Plasma king simply raised his hands in the air and whistled. Then the trees behind him began to shake with violence. Leaves began to fall everywhere. Branches began to crack and snap. Flying Pokémon soared away from the forest at top speed. Then a mighty black dragon emerged from the treeline and filled the sky with a deafening roar.

"ZEKROOOO!" it shouted, and N only continued to smile.

"Zekrom! My friends and I need a lift!"

* * *

Mewtwo lunged backwards in defense and fired several Shadow Balls at the soaring latios. The dragon Pokémon responded only by spinning around most of them and drilling toward Mewtwo again. One attack managed to clip his right wing, but no real harm was done.

"Duck, Mewtwo! See if you can manage to get a shot out from under it!" Giovanni called.

Mewtwo did as he commanded, crouching down in another defensive posture as the great dragon barreled above him. He fired off three more Shadow Balls when Latios passed. Two of them hit.

"Latiii!" the Pokémon cried in pain, the dark explosions hurdling him forward.

"Hang on in there, Latios!" Tobias commanded, "I want you to do as much damage here as you possibly can! Do you hear me?"

"Laa!" he squeaked back.

At this point, Tobias knew Mewtwo was fast. That was the main problem. Latios could not fire off a decent projectile without Mewtwo skillfully dodging out of the way first. His best bet was to have Latios dive as close to Mewtwo as possible before attacking. This opened Mewtwo up to more damage, but, unfortunately, it did the same for Latios.

"Come on, Mewtwo! Nail that thing!" Giovanni cried.

Mewtwo ran after the latios, picking up great speed, but the flying-type simply shot up in the air again to prepare for its next dive bomb.

"Let's try something different…" Tobias muttered, "Latios Luster Purge above Mewtwo!"

Latios did not even bother questioning his trainer. He simply fired a great purple beam above the psychic-type. Mewtwo ducked just in case.

"What are you-" Giovanni began, but he stopped as the realized that the attack had exploded on several trees in the forestline behind Mewtwo. They began to fall on the clone as he stood there awaiting orders.

"MEWTWO! BEHIND YOU!" he cried.

In all truth, Mewtwo had known they were there all along, but the darkball's hold on him prevented him from reacting without Giovanni's command. As soon as Giovanni said something, the Pokémon leaped into the air, out of the way of the falling trunks.

"STOP THAT THING!" Giovanni yelled again, causing Mewtwo to spin around and leap on top of the still falling trees. He used them as stepping-stones to climb toward Latios, but this time, the dragon was too fast. He had the advantage in the air, and as soon as Tobias gave a wave of his hand, Latios dove below one of the falling trees and head butted it into the air, throwing Mewtwo as well.

"NO!" Giovanni shouted.

"LATIOS! AERIAL ACE!" Tobias commanded.

And with that, Latios shot toward the hurdling Mewtwo and rammed him in the side. He swooped closely down and charged again.

"He hit him…" Giovanni muttered in disbelief, "He actually hit him… MEWTWO! DO SOMETHING, YOU DOLT!"

Latios swung by again and rammed into Mewtwo a second time, but as soon as he left, the clone's eyes began to glow a deep violet, and a visible frown formed on his face.

Latios swung by for a third hit, but he flew over Mewtwo this time rather than actually ramming him. Latios peaked over his shoulder to see what had gone wrong. Mewtwo had stabilized himself in the air.

'Now that Mewtwo is controlling his own flight, we'll have to change our strategy.' Tobias realized, "Latios! See if you can-"

Tobias was cut off by a large shockwave of psychic energy caused by Mewtwo clapping both of his hands together. He and Giovanni both covered their ears in pain of the noise.

Latios glanced through his surroundings in shock. He was looking for whatever Mewtwo had just done. His answer was given to him in the form of a large tree hitting him in the face like a baseball bat.

"LATIIII!" the Pokémon cried in pain as he slammed to the ground.

Mewtwo had used his psychic abilities to pick up the trees that Latios had knocked over earlier, and he was now chasing the poor dragon-type with them.

As soon as Latios hit the ground, another tree began to fall out of the sky to crush him.

"LATIOS! GET OUT OF THERE NOW!" Tobias yelled.

The legendary wasted no time in blasting across the forest floor. In fact, he left so fast that a small sonic boom erupted on the ground and hurdled Tobias and Giovanni on their backs.

Mewtwo simply followed the beast via sky. He brought with him four large trees that he repeatedly slammed into the ground behind Latios in a constant attempt to crush him. Latios was probably fast enough to dodge them, and he would have been fine were it not for the many other trees in Ilex Forest. Mewtwo's repeated slamming of four trees simply caused more and more trees to fall, crush, and roll after Latios. Before the pokemon knew it, he was running from an enormous tree avalanche as the forest itself fell apart behind him.

Giovanni sat up from his fall and rubbed his head a bit before registering what was happening, but when he finally did, he smiled. "Yes! That's it, Mewtwo!" he shouted, "Crush that little bug! I don't care if you have to rip the entire forest apart to do it! Just destroy that thing!"

Tobias stood up from his fall as well. "That can't be good." He muttered. He would have told Latios to fly upward, but that would only bring him closer to Mewtwo and thus, put him in more danger. He would have told Latios to attack Mewtwo, but that would require him turning around and, in turn, almost guarantee that Latios was crushed by something. He would have told Latios to go faster, but he knew his Pokémon's limits. Latios was already going as fast as he could... In fact, Latios probably could not hear him at this point anyway. Tobias just had to hope for the best and rely on the previous training they had done. But, even still, they had never trained for something like this!

Latios was scared out of his mind, but he simply kept moving forward. He did not look back. The forest was being thrown, slammed, and torn apart behind him, but he could not look back.

Mewtwo had the same basic thoughts. He kept moving forward. He did not look back. His eyes were on nothing but the target as they shot through the forest at speeds most Pokémon would only dream about.

"Laa…" Latios chirped. He knew it was only a matter of time. Ilex Forest was a big place. He and his master had trained there many times. The chances of him actually reaching the edge of this forest without being crushed were basically zip.

The slamming followed him from behind. It was taunting him. BOOM! BOOM! CRUSH! CRASH! A piece of a stump finally hurtled far enough and clipped his right wing. It was the same wing that Mewtwo had clipped with a Shadow Ball earlier. Latios only gritted his teeth. This Pokémon that was following him was mindless. It was an evil pawn in the hands of a very evil man. It showed no thought. No remorse. Latios might die out here.

Many, many thoughts went through Latios' head at that time. 'Why did this Pokémon have to be a psychic-type? If it was a different type then I could use my psychic attacks.' 'How did this Pokémon get so strong? It must have been training for ages longer than my master and I.' 'How did that evil man get this Pokémon?' 'Why do such monsters exist in this world?' 'Will I die? …What happens to me after that?'

Tears flowed down Latios' cheeks as it charged one final Luster Purge in its mouth. This was the last option. There was no way Latios was going to escape the forest. Latios closed his eyes and saw his master. He remembered all of the training they had done. He remembered the Kanto boy and his Pikachu. He remembered their crushing defeat at the hands of Cynthia. The trees slamming behind him rang through his mind like a beating drum. He was going to go on three. He counted them.

"BOOM!" 'One.'

"BOOM!" 'Two.'

"BOOM!" 'Three!'

Latios turned around and fired a Luster Purge.

* * *

"Where do you think they went?" Diamond asked his two friends as they intently watched the great battle from the Rocket security camera.

"There's no telling…" Pearl answered in awe, "But they took ¼ of the forest with them."

Charon was not paying attention to the camera. Instead, he was busy tying up the two rockets he had knocked out earlier. "You know…" he commented with a grunt, "This would be a lot easier if one of you little twerps would help me…"

"You're a bad guy." Diamond said without looking from the security screen, "Isn't tying people up supposed to be something that you're… naturally good at or something?"

Charon was busy reaching a rope around the male rocket when he heard that. "Well, sorry… This isn't exactly something that they teach in Evil Villain 101."

Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum all looked at each other. They knew they should probably go help him. After all, it would suck if those rockets woke up and started attacking them. But each of them also wanted to see if Latios and/or Mewtwo came back… Oh! And they were waiting for their friends to come back! That too!

Pearl decided to speak first. "Platinum, do you-"

"Uh!" she interrupted him, "An opportunity for work comes up, and you two _boys_ are going to make _a lady_ go and do the work for you?!"

Diamond and Pearl blushed a little bit. "Well-"

"I am ashamed of you!" She finished, crossing her arms.

Diamond and Peal faced each other.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Peal asked.

"Deal." Diamond nodded.

"ROCK! PAPER! SCISSORS!" they shouted in unison.

Diamond chose paper.

Pearl chose rock.

Pearl slouched his head over and sighed. "Fine…" he said in defeat, and he began to walk toward Charon in defeat.

"Wait!" Platinum interrupted.

Diamond and Pearl both returned their attention to the security screen.

"Look…" she whispered as she pointed to a small, barely visible figure lurking behind the trees in view of their camera.

It was clearly a person. He was riding on some kind of Pokémon, but the Pokémon was hard to make out. The person was close to the ground and followed by a few more shifting colors of various heights and sizes. They were well hidden and a decent ways away from Giovanni and the latios master. The only reason that Platinum had noticed them at all was likely because the leader was wearing a color that really stood out in the forest. His upper body was pretty much coated with a light shade of…

"RED!" Diamond and Pearl said at once.

"Red?" Charon asked from behind. He turned around to see what the three kids were talking about. "Did you say you see Red on that thing? The Kanto champion that the yellow one is always going on about?"

"Yes! Yes! Oh my goodness!" Platinum began to jump in excitement, "That is most certainly Red! We have got to do something about this! Call the others!"

"We can't." Pearl reminded her, "Our pokétchs aren't working in here, remember?"

"And even if they were, it might not be a good idea to call our seniors at this point." Diamond reasoned, "I mean, they _did_ have an alarm go off, telling every rocket where they were earlier. We don't want to give away their position again."

"Good point." Pearl agreed, "Let's just sit tight until someone comes to find us."

* * *

Fortunately for Team Sinnoh, someone _was_ coming to find them. Amidst the alarms going off, the rockets running everywhere, and the main team splitting up, Gold and Crystal had found what Gold called "the perfect hiding spot for [their] escape!"

When everyone went their separate ways earlier, Yellow tried the back door in hopes that it led to a smaller portion of the base, where she could loop around to the main hallways and find Silver without being disturbed by many rockets. Team Hoenn had went with the ventilation system because Misty claimed that she had been plotting a way to break out through that route since she had been brought to the Ilex base. Gold and Crystal, on the other hand, decided to stay in the prison chamber… as prisoners.

The two dex holders sat in the back of a cell behind a large yet unlocked gate.

"This is never going to work." Crystal muttered.

"Then why are you going along with it?" Gold teased, "Come on, you know this is a good plan."

"No. I'm going along with it because without me, you would get yourself killed." Crystal insisted.

Gold leaned up against the prison wall and flashed a sarcastic smile. "Gee, Crys, I didn't know you cared."

She only frowned in return. "Gold, I'm gonna be the one to kill you if-"

A large door slammed open on the other side of the prison chamber, and tons of angry voices came within earshot. The rockets were screaming, yelling, cursing, and growling as they ran into the chamber as fast as they could.

"We should have tried the ventilation system…" Crystal muttered in fear, "We should have tried the ventilation system…"

"Don't worry." Gold insisted with a whisper, "If this goes right, it'll work a thousand times better than the ventilation system. Trust me."

Crystal closed her eyes and grabbed onto a wall as the shouts and footsteps came closer to them. "Gold…"

Gold grabbed onto her hand, and Crystal opened her eyes to look at him. For once in his life, Gold had a completely serious look on his face. He nodded at her.

"Crys. Trust me." He said, "This thing will work right, but you have to follow my lead, okay?"

Crystal nodded softly.

Gold winked at her. "After all, we both know you went with my crappy plan because it's gonna work. It always does. Just act natural."

Crystal took in a deep breath, stood up straight, and did her best to look like everything was normal. The rockets came running by seconds later.

The group of rockets actually went on for a while. It was not until near the end of the line that one of them stopped in front of Gold and Crystal to take a closer look.

"Hey!" the man called to a few of his rocket buddies, "I think I got an idea!"

"You think?" Gold asked from behind bars, "Well, I guess it's a new feeling for you, huh?"

"Hey! What was that?!" the rocket asked.

"Oh, nothing." Gold assured, "Why don't you just tell us all about your brilliant plan?"

Two more rockets walked up behind the larger man that was interrogating Gold, and the rest of the group had stopped to see what was going on.

The rocket started speaking again. "Ya know, I think I recognize you two little troublemakers." He looked Gold straight in the eyes. "Johnny, right?"

Gold shrugged. "I go by a number of number of different names. You can also try 'Pokémon God' or 'Lady Killer' if you like."

The man ignored him and let his finger point to Crystal. "And you're Marina, right?"

"Uuummm…" Crystal did not know what to say to that. "Call me… 'Boy Killer?'"

The rocket grunt squinted his eyes at the two dex holders. "Ya see… The thing is… I don't remember you two being captured here."

"Giovanni's son brought us here." Gold countered, "Short guy, red hair. You know him?"

"Yeah…" he said again, still suspicious, "And last time I checked, he worked with you!"

"He double-crossed us!" Crystal finally let out.

The man looked at her a little closer. "Excuse me?"

"He double-crossed us." She insisted, "He captured us, brought us here with a couple of his rocket friends, and after putting us in this cell, we revealed that the rockets he had with him were actually friends of ours working as double agents in an attempt to find the rocket base! They battled, but he was too strong for them, so they ran to the next chamber after he triggered the alarm! We may be locked up now, but they're going to bring this entire place down and set us free once you're all in chains!"

Gold's mouth dropped open and he looked at Crystal in disbelief. That was a _really_ good (and elaborate) lie.

The rocket grunt only narrowed his glare. "Well, you know what I think? I think you two are the only real security breach, and you're just pretendin' to be prisoners so we'll leave the room and you can run all around the base!"

Crystal laughed. "Please! You think that we locked ourselves in a prison cell to get away from you clowns? How counterproductive can you get?"

"Well, I know one way we can find out for sure." The rocket chuckled.

"W-what's that?" Gold asked.

The surrounding rockets leaned in closer to the scene.

The grunt smiled and grabbed onto the bars of the cell. "If you two were really captured, then why is the cell unlocked?!"

The rocket pulled the gate to reveal the 'prisoners'' true colors, but to his astonishment, the cell door did not open.

Gold's mouth dropped open yet again.

The rocket grunt chuckled nervously. "Well… heh… I… um…"

The other rockets continued on their way to find the _real _prisoners, and that one grunt was left pulling on the cell door over and over again. "I… uh… hehe… this thing is tighter than I thought…"

"You were saying?" Crystal taunted.

The rocket sweatdropped. "Okay. Fine. Your story checks out… Sorry for the trouble."

And with that, he left to rejoin the mob.

Gold turned to Crystal in astonishment. "How did you-"

Crystal finally let out a massive sigh. "Arcues! That was too close!"

Gold was still awestruck. "Crys… How did-"

The girl reached inside her overalls and pulled a ring of prison keys out. "I took these from that Chad guy that Silver knocked out earlier, and I locked our gate just when we came inside, just in case. I'm not about to go along with one of your stupid plans without some extra insurance."

Gold let loose a big smile and blushed a little bit. "So… Maybe I didn't think that one all the way through… I'm just glad it still somehow worked!"

"Right." Confirmed Crystal, "What do we do now?"

"Time for Phase 2!"

"What's Phase 2?"

Gold leaned out of his cell slightly and saw that two rockets had stayed behind to help the unconscious grunt that they left on the floor earlier. He smiled. "There are a lot of things I don't like about Team Rocket, Crys, but their uniforms sure are cool. Don't you agree?"

The girl smiled deviously.

* * *

"Alright." Lance announced to the dex holders from behind the trees, "That is definitely Giovanni. Does anyone know who the other guy is?"

"Tobias." Brock announced, "He's the guy who beat Ash in the semi-finals of the Sinnoh League."

Green clenched her right fist. "So, is he evil?"

"Not that I know of." The breeder assured, "But what's he doing here?"

"And why is he just waiting around with Giovanni?" Red continued, "I don't like the looks of this. They might be up to no good."

"I doubt it." Gary said, "I remember doing some home research about Tobias after watching him cream Ash in the last league. He's a pretty solid guy. He's big on charity work."

"Look, regardless of what's going on, now is the perfect time for us to attack!" Blue came in, "Mewtwo is nowhere in sight, and judging by that huge clearing of destroyed forest that they are both stating at, he probably went that way! Giovanni is vulnerable!"

"Alright…" Lance began, "But we are going to need a plan to do this. So you five go at him from the front, and I'll flank him from behind to steal the darkball, okay?"

"Wait." Green protested, "Why do _we_ have to go at him from the front? I think I'm probably the undisputed best here at stealing things."

"She 's right." Red admitted with a nod, "I think Green should flank him. After all, we need you for muscle support, Lance."

"No! No! No!" the man insisted, "I need all of you to go first so that if you get slaughtered, I'll know it's not safe!"

There was silence for a second, and everyone stared at Lance with confused expressions.

"I mean… uh… Joking! I'm joking!" he laughed nervously, "I just think that I should go last because… of… my psychic powers! I need to stay as far away from Mewtwo as I can for as long as I can so that he does not sense me."

"Wait…" Gary interrupted, "You don't have psychic powers…"

"Yeah, I thought only our universe's Lance had psychic powers…" Blue agreed.

Lance sweatdropped for a moment. "Uh… Do you really want to take that chance?"

There was silence again. Lance was acting strange, and everyone could see that. But he _did_ have _kind of_ a point.

"Fair enough." Blue shrugged.

"Alright!" Lance said with a fist pump, "Let's go on three! One… Two… Thr-"

Lance was stopped short by the arrival of Mewtwo. The psychic-type Pokémon floated above the decimated trees from earlier, and Team Kanto shrunk back into their hiding spots as a result.

* * *

"YES!" Giovanni cheered in triumph as he saw his slave arrive, "Mewtwo! Have you rid the world of that annoying dragon?"

Mewtwo raised his hand into the air and Latios was thrown from the forest to Tobias' feet.

"LATIOS!" The trainer cried in fear, bending down to examine his defeated Pokémon's wounds.

Latios was bruised and beaten. The poor thing had two black eyes and splinters sticking out of it everywhere. It probably had several broken bones, but its stomach rose and fell heavily. He was alive.

"Latios! Can you hear me?!" Tobias screamed at it. He had never seen his beloved Pokémon in so much pain before.

Mewtwo lowered himself next to Giovanni, who stood over the trainer with a smirk on his face. "A foolish attempt." He taunted, "To think that anything could stand up to the ultimate Pokémon is pure nonsense!"

Tobias returned Latios to his pokéball and stood up with gritted teeth. "You're a monster!"

"No!" Giovanni laughed, "I am a god!"

Fire began to rage in Tobias' eyes as he pulled a second pokéball from beneath his cloak. Now he was angry. "A GOD?! YOU THINK YOU'RE A GOD?!" he shouted, "THEN WHY DO I GET THE FEELING THAT YOU'RE ABOUT TO START PRAYING?!"

Giovanni's smile went away and he stepped back slightly. "What are you gonna do?"

Tobias' eyes narrowed. "This."

His pokéball flew up into the air and a bright light illuminated the area as a darkrai emerged on the battlefield.

Giovanni gasped slightly. "How did you-"

"Tell me, '_God'," _Tobias taunted, "Where do you think _you_ go when _you_ die?!"

Giovanni's eyes only narrowed on his opponent. "You're an inconceivable moron."

Tobias snapped out of his rage for only a moment. "Wh… What?"

"Coming here was the mistake of your life." Giovanni continued, "When I'm done with you, I'll have two more legendaries to add to my collection."

Tobias did not back down. He tried to regain his cool. "And how do you plan on-"

"Aura Sphere!" Giovanni commanded.

In seconds, Mewtwo generated a blue ball of energy and shot it at Darkrai. A direct hit. The Pokémon screamed in pain as it hurdled back into its master.

"Ugh!" Tobias grunted when he was hit, "Aura Sphere?!"

Darkrai got back up and took a defensive posture.

Giovanni walked toward the two with Mewtwo in front of him. "Give _the real_ god my regards in a few. Deal?"

* * *

Yellow peaked through the small window on a hallway door to make sure it was safe. No one seemed to be on the other side, so she went for it. The girl ran through the clanky metal hallway as quickly and quietly as she could.

"I swear," she said to herself, "The moment I find Silver, I am going to hit him over the head with the heaviest object I can find."

She stopped at the next door. She looked through the window. Same situation. She ran.

Yellow found it quite surprising that she had not run into any rockets yet. It kind of made sense, considering that all of the rockets thought she was in the prison chamber, but surely they came from all sides of the base to get to the prison chamber… It was probably the first alarm. Yeah! That must have been it! That first alarm lured the rockets toward the main base entrance, and the second alarm lured some of them back to the prison cells. Sure, there are multiple paths to the prison cells from the main entrance, but the rockets would not use every path. They would only use the shortest one. That meant Yellow must have been on one of the longer paths… Still, it was only a matter of time before they just started sweeping the whole area.

Yellow gulped. That was definitely going to be interesting. Hopefully she could find Silver before then. If only she knew where the boss' office was. Then she could head Silver off.

Yellow came to a third door, but this time she peaked in to find a single rocket in the hallway. In fact, she recognized him.

"Proton…" she whispered, "…Perfect!"

If Yellow could manage to capture Proton, she could interrogate him for information! She could find out where Giovanni's office is, and she could find Silver!

Yellow knelt down next to the door and produced a pokéball from her belt. Chuchu emerged in a brilliant flash of light.

"Pika?" the little Pokémon asked.

"Chuchu! I need a hand!" Yellow whispered, "Are you in a fighting mood?"

"Chu!" she squeaked.

"Good. Do you remember Proton?"

"Pikachu!" she confirmed.

"Good. Cause we're about to charge through this door and attack him, deal?"

"Pika!" she chirped again.

"Alright…" Yellow began, "Ready a Volt Tackle!"

"PIIIIKAAA…" the rodent began to grow a bright yellow, and electricity surrounded her.

Yellow smiled. "Alright…" she kicked open the door with one foot and pointed toward the unsuspecting Proton. "GO!"

"PIKACHU!" Chuchu cried as she lunged from the hallway and ran straight into the rocket executive.

"WOAHH!" the man cried as he was hurdled across the room. He hit the wall and looked up at his assailant. "What is the meaning of this?!"

Yellow slowly walked into the room behind Chuchu. "Looks like you didn't hit him hard enough, Chuchu. Try it again!"

The pikachu charged up for her electric attack, but Proton was faster with his move.

"Weezing! I choose you!" he shouted as he tossed a pokéball into the air.

"WEEZING!" the creature cried.

"Weezing! Use Sludge Bomb!" he announced.

And just as Chuchu began charging toward Proton again, a huge ball of poisonous goop shot out at her, hitting her in the side and into a wall.

"What?!" Yellow yelled in disbelief, "Nothing has ever stopped her attack like that before! What level _is _that thing?!"

"Chu…" the Pokémon moaned weakly.

Proton got up from his position, chuckling quietly. "That explains why I've never seen you before. You aren't from around here, are you?"

"What?" the girl asked, a little trembling in her voice, "W-what are you talking about?"

"You must be one of those dex holders that I've heard oh-so much about…" he continued with a smirk as he dusted himself off, "Welcome to _my _world, kid! Weezing doesn't have a level."

Yellow backed up slightly, but she remained strong. "I… I don't know what you're talking about… But Chuchu! Use Thunder!"

"Assurance!" Proton commanded.

* * *

He could hear them below. Ash heard every single one of them. There were rockets shouting, talking, running, and cursing beneath him. After getting in the base, the young Pokémon trainer had decided to take shelter in the ventilation system. It was something he was used to doing by this point, and it was probably one of the few areas that did not have security cameras in it. Ash and Pikachu simply crawled on their bellies all throughout the base looking for the prison chamber.

Ash had heard the alarm go off earlier saying that there was another intruder in that area, and he was passing travel time by wondering who it could have been. The alarm clearly said "intruder", so it certainly did not mean that Misty had broken out. An intruder is something very different from a fugitive. There had to be someone else _in the base_ with Ash and Pikachu. A ton of different possibilities passed through Ash's mind from a secret agent of some sort showing up to shut down Team Rocket to Red deciding to come and help after his apology. In all honesty, Ash found the former more likely than the latter. He was not sure if he and Red would ever be friends.

The only thing that he could really hope for was that Misty was safe. Hopefully Giovanni had not resorted to some sadistic kind of torture or anything. Hopefully she was still in one piece. She was his best friend…

The more Ash crawled through the vents, the wilder his imagination got. He could see Giovanni using Mewtwo to brainwash Misty into hurting herself. He could see Giovanni chaining her to another wall. He had seen too many scary movies. He saw tools. Knives! He could hear her screaming! "Help! Help! If anyone can hear me, help!"

"Help!"

…Wait. No. He actually heard someone screaming.

"Silver! Gold! Somebody! I can't do this! Help!"

"Do you hear that, Pikachu?" Ash whispered.

Pikachu nodded his head. "Pika." And he crawled forward faster, stopping at a vent. Ash came up behind him and looked down.

He could see a rocket of some sort dressed all in black with blue hair. He had four of his Pokémon out, and he was closing in on a boy in a straw hat. The boy was backing up against the wall with an Omastar. Definitely not a rocket. He looked like he was in trouble.

"Someone help!" he shouted again.

"Pika! Pika!" Pikachu said, pointing down at the boy.

"Cool! An omastar!" Ash smiled. He got out his pokédex, but Pikachu knocked it out of his hands with his tail.

"PIKA!" he insisted.

"Oh... Right…" Ash said with a sigh. He looked down at the boy one more time before giving the vent a good kick. It worked, and the cover fell to the floor. "Well, here goes our element of surprise."

He jumped down to the ground with Pikachu, and the rocket turned to face him. "What are… YOU!"

"Hey, moron!" Ash offered with a wave of his hand, "Why don't you pick on someone your own size?"

"Pikachu!"

Yellow looked at the stranger for a split second, and her eyes lit up in joy. "RED!"

* * *

**More AN: As always, I hope you enjoyed it! I don't have much time to put stuff here because I need to study for an exam, but tell me if I did good or not. Reviews welcomed and encouraged. Also, I have a poll on my profile right now that will affect my next fic. If you enjoy reading my work, I encourage you to voice your opinion, but, fyi, said fic will not be released until near the end of this fic. So, stay tuned!**


	23. Round 23: VS Mewtwo

**Author's Notes: This round DID NOT WANT to get written. I'm sorry it took me forever to update this fic, but I had the hardest time ever finishing this round. Every time that I made progress, something else would happen to set me back. But I finally managed to get it out today, so I thoroughly hope you enjoy it! I don't want to brag, but I think that this turned out pretty good. Good battle. Good humor. Nearly every character in this round gets a chance to shine. It went well. I hope you have as much trouble putting this one down as I did finishing it.  
**

**Also, there is a poll regarding my next fic on my profile. Please vote on it.  
**

******Une version française de cette histoire est disponible ici: ****Absolette**.

**********Ship Warning: Pokeshipping, Specialshipping, Minor Commonershipping.  
**

******I do not own or have any rights to any part of the Pokemon franchise whatsoever.**

* * *

**Location: Ilex Forest - Animeverse**

**Invasion Countdown: 21 hours 29 minutes**

Proton's eyes darted back and forth between Ash and Yellow. The girl was pressed up against a wall, hugging her omastar to her chest. Ash was glaring at the Rocket executive with a teasing smile across his face and an angry pikachu at his side. Proton remembered the chaos that Ash had caused during the Goldenrod invasion, and despite her level disadvantage, Yellow had already managed to take out two of Proton's Pokemon while injuring the others. He knew he did not have the arsenal to take on Ash right now, so he slowly and discreetly reached for the radio in his right pocket.

A bolt of lightning shot past him and hit the wall next to Yellow.

"Chuu..." Pikachu growled.

"Don't even think about it." Ash taunted as he plucked a pokeball from his belt, tossed it in the air, and caught it with his right hand, "You aren't afraid of a little battle, are you?"

Proton slowly raised his hands back up and gave a nervous chuckle, "Come on, kid. I already had to deal with this intruder." He nudged toward Yellow, "My Pokemon are weakened, and two against one is hardly fair."

Ash's smile only widened. "Who said anything about being fair?"

"Pikaaa..." Pikachu growled again, electricity sparking from his cheeks.

Proton sweatdropped.

"For the past day and a half, you people have shot at me, attacked me with Pokemon, threatened my friends, and made me nearly fall to my death like a dozen different times." he continued, "You're lucky I'm even giving you the option of battling me!"

Yellow grinned with overwhelming joy. She could hardly contain the excitement of seeing Red again, but to see him defend her like this was even better. She had REALLY missed him and was honestly at a complete loss for words.

"So..." The boy tried one more time, extending his pokeball again, "What will it be?"

Proton was starting breathe a little bit faster. Adrenaline began to flow through his veins as he eyed the four final Pokemon he had out.

Zubat was to his left. Its right wing was damaged in a scuffle with Yellow's golem earlier.

Raticate was also on his left. It had suffered several scratches and bites at the hand of Yellow's own raticate.

Arbok slithered to his right. The Pokemon sustained heavy injuries from Yellow's dotrio and golem.

And haunter also floated on his right. It was difficult to see where/if Haunter was damaged, but it took a few good hits from Yellow's omastar and butterfree earlier, so anything goes.

Proton was not ready for a battle. There was no way he could win. So Ash and Yellow were both legitimately surprised when the rocket dropped his panic and began to laugh.

When the first few chuckles escaped his lips, Yellow only raised an eyebrow, but Ash's smile disappeared completely.

"What's so funny?" he asked.

The laughter grew louder and less controlled. Soon Yellow's smile disappeared as well.

"What is it?!" Yellow finally demanded, "What are you laughing at?"

"You fools!" Proton choked out between bursts of giggles, "Look around you! You've completely blown your cover!"

The two trainers jumped with surprise and quickly scanned the surrounding area for other spying rockets, but they did not see anything.

"Are... Are they invisible?" Ash tried.

"There's no one here." Yellow confirmed.

Proton just continued to bellow and pointed to the wall behind Ash. "No, you morons! Both of you have been sitting here and staring at me for who knows how long, and this room is filled with security cameras watching your every move!"

"Oh no!" Ash shouted as he swiftly turned around to see a small lens extending from the top of the wall. He had honestly not considered security cameras when he jumped down from the vent earlier. "Someone is gonna be here any minute!"

"Pika! Pika!" Pikachu echoed in despair.

"That's right!" Proton chuckled again, "So go ahead and attack my Pokemon. Knock me unconscious. Tie me up. It won't matter. Your little 'operation' is over!"

Yellow's smile returned again. "Well I wouldn't quite say that."

Ash and Proton both turned to the girl for answers, and she finally began to move away from the wall a little bit.

"Maybe our 'operation' isn't as little as you think, Proton." she continued.

"What are you talking about?"

"Let's just say that Security is all tied up right now."

The executive's eyes widened, and Ash looked at Yellow with disgust.

"Did you _really_ just make that pun?"

"I was in the moment." she explained.

"Fine." Proton came again, "You want your battle? ATTACK!"

As soon as he screamed, every one of his Pokemon pounced at Ash while Proton himself made off down the hallway.

The sheer force was enough to shove Ash into the wall, but the boy covered his face and screamed for Pikachu's help before anything terrible could happen to him. The mouse was more than happy to oblige with a massive Thunder Bolt that drew the crowd of Pokemon further from Ash and closer toward him.

"Red!" Yellow cried in fear "Are you-"

"WRAAAAHHH!" Interrupted an enormous roar as Charizard emerged from the crowd and began to knock back the Rocket Pokemon with a few swipes and Wing Attacks.

The girl stepped back, stunned again. "Charizard? ...But where's Blue?"

Ash ran out from behind his Pokemon in seconds. "He's trying to distract us!" he explained as he grabbed her by the wrist, "Come on!"

And with that, the two trainers sprinted down the hallway as fast as they could in pursuit of the Rocket Executive.

* * *

"Well what are they doing?" Platinum asked. She was standing behind the security screens with Charon as Diamond and Pearl hogged the front seats and leaned in to the video so close that no one else could see what was going on.

"It's amazing!" Diamond screamed, "That gray-haired guy has a Darkrai!"

"A Darkrai?!" Charon asked.

"No, not that!" the girl said again, "I mean, what are Red, Blue, and Green doing?"

"Uh... They're just kind of sitting there behind the trees..." Pearl answered, "It looks like they're waiting for something."

"Like what?" Charon pressed, "Are they just hoping that the two legendaries will knock each other unconscious?"

"Well if it _is _Red, he's got to be planning something." Diamond assured.

Platinum nodded at that. They could trust Red. More often than not, the guy knew what he was doing.

"Did I tell you that there are other people with them?" Pearl asked.

"There are what?"

"The more they move around, the more I realize that each of them has someone else with them."

"And there is a fourth person on another Pokemon entirely." Diamond observed, squinting his eyes.

"There is?" Pearl asked.

"Yeah," Diamond nodded as he began to bring his finger to the screen. "He's pretty hard to see, but if you look right-"

"WRAAAAHHH!" Came a massive roar from another monitor.

It was enough to divert everyone's attention to the other side of the control panel, where a charizard had just emerged from its pokeball to attack a barrage of other Pokemon.

"What is going on over there?" Platinum asked.

All of the dex holders perked up when they saw the commotion in the tiny room, but they became even more interested when they saw the charizard's trainer stand up from behind it and run to grab Yellow.

"Woah!" Diamond shouted again, "Did you see that?!"

Platinum and Charon leaned in closer for this one. Charon spoke first. "Was that..."

Yellow and the mystery trainer ran into the next hallway, and their viewers darted their eyes to the next monitor, following them. As soon as the camera got a good shot of the trainer's face, there was no doubt.

"Red." Pearl said with a nod. "_That_ is Red."

"Or his counterpart." Platinum reminded.

"That's right." Charon agreed, "Red cannot be outside the base _and _inside the base."

"Well whoever he is, he found Yellow." Diamond added.

Pearl's eyes darted from monitor to monitor."But what are they chasing after?"

Eventually, the dex holder's gaze fell upon just the right camera, and he saw Proton sprinting down an empty metal chasm and screaming into his radio.

"What's he saying?" Diamond demanded, "Turn the volume up!"

* * *

"Attention!" Proton shouted, "Attention! This is Executive 819! There are intruders in multiple sections of the building!"

"He's going to give away our position!" Yellow worried from behind.

"If so, that's the only thing he's going to give away!" Ash promised as he narrowed his eyes on the target.

"I need a full sweep of the base!" Proton continued in fast breaths, "Cover the East side and check the air vents! Eliminate or capture all non-rocket personnel with extreme prejudice!"

Ash and Yellow were gaining on him, and as soon as they were close enough, Ash whipped out another pokeball and threw it in the air.

"Hit the ground running, Buizel!"

Yellow let out a smile as she saw the new water-type Pokemon land in front of her, already in a sprint.

"Buizel-Bui?" He asked in a grunt.

"There's your target!" Ash said, pointing at the rocket ahead of them, "Just stop him. I don't care how."

"Buizel!" He nodded as water began to form around his back. He shot toward Proton like a bullet propelled by the mighty blast of waves behind him.

"Looks like someone's been busy." Yellow commented with a smirk.

"What are you talking about?" Ash asked.

"The Buizel?" She continued, "That's a new Pokemon for you, isn't it?"

"Uhhhh..."

"There are intruders on my immediate six o'clock!" Proton continued to shout, "Also, check the Security Room! The people in there are not rocke-"

"Bui!" Interrupted an excited shout from behind, and Proton's announcement was cut short by a solid, wet force ramming into his back and jutting him into the air. The rocket fell back on the ground face-first and then received a follow-up Water Gun attack, pushing him back even further and knocking the radio from his hand.

He coughed from the water that he accidentally swallowed, but before he could even get his hair out of his face, Ash and Yellow caught up to him.

"Okay," Ash began as he lifted the villain to his feet, "We've got a few questions to ask you."

"I'll say." Yellow agreed.

"Where's Misty? Where's Giovanni? Where's the Dimensional Laser? And how do I stop Mewtwo?"

"Wait... What?" Yellow came again, "I was just going to ask him where Giovanni is."

Proton laughed at the two. "Are you kidding me? What makes you think that I'm going to tell you that? Do I look like a traitor to you?"

Buizel stood in front of him and raised his fist backwards as it began to glow blue. Ice Punch.

"The clock is ticking." Ash warned.

"It most certainly is, you filthy brat!" Proton warned back, not the least intimidated by Buizel's antics, "I just let every rocket in the base know your exact location, and two of your Pokemon are still back in the other room. You can't hide in the vents anymore, and your friends in the Security Room are going down any minute now. It's only a matter of time until you children are our slaves! Know this: Even though you are the one holding me right now, I truly have YOU as prisoner. The delicious irony of this defeat is-"

Proton's monologue was discontinued by a swift punch from Buizel, and the executive fell to the floor unconscious.

Ash smiled and patted his Pokemon on the head before returning it. "Good job, buddy. Now, come on, let's go get Charizard and Pikachu and then find a way to the Prison Chamber."

He began to walk back down the hallway fairly quickly. Yellow was left behind for a moment, but the girl caught up to him in no time.

"Do you really think we should just leave him there?" She asked.

"Sure. Buizel's Ice Punch will have him out for at least an hour or two. Besides, what else would we do with him?"

"Maybe we could use him as a hostage to get out of here safely?"

"It wouldn't matter. These guys are ruthless. They just wouldn't care."

Yellow walked closer in front of Red and looked him in the eyes. He was only looking forward. His sentences were short and to the point. Yellow wasn't sure if she had ever seen him this determined before. These rockets must have taken something important to him.

"Hey, I almost forgot to ask!" She remembered, "What are you doing here?"

Ash smiled and turned to look at her mid-walk. "I could ask you the same question."

Yellow giggled nervously and blushed before looking down at her feet. "Well... I... My friends and I... We were looking for you."

That caused Ash to stop. He looked his new friend with a curious tilt of the head. "You were looking... for me?"

"Yeah..." Yellow nodded shyly, "I mean, don't get me wrong. I've got a ton of questions to ask you, like what you've been doing since you left, what Team Rocket is up to, where the new clothes came from, and what new Pokemon you've caught, but... I haven't been able to think about anything else but finding you since you disappeared..."

Ash was very confused, and he would have said something about it, but before he could respond, Yellow took his hands in her own, which only made him more speechless.

She continued. "I mean... I didn't really notice it until you disappeared, but the thought of life going on without you around is... is horrifying to me. I mean..." She paused for a moment in a loss for words. "I guess what I'm trying to say is..."

Yellow's last words were cut off by her standing on her tip toes for only a moment as she tipped her hat back and pressed her own lips against Red's, an action that she would have never had enough courage to do in the past, but this journey had provided her with the experience and confidence she needed to know that any other action would have had much more terrifying results.

She closed her eyes and counted the moments. She became lost in them. It was wonderful... Until Red pushed her away.

"Wait!" She gasped, "What are you-"

Ash put two fingers over her lips as he further distanced her head from his.

"Two things just occurred to me." He said in a stunned voice, "1. You have me confused with somebody else. 2. You taste like a latias, but don't take that the wrong way. It's kind of a compliment."

Yellow pushed Ash's fingers from her lips. "What?!"

"I mean... I don't wanna hurt your feelings or anything." he continued, "...but I don't roll that way."

Yellow just looked at him in astonishment. "Roll what way?!"

Ash waved his arms in front of his face a little bit. "I... I mean, if you roll that way... That's fine... and I'm not gonna lie. I enjoyed the kiss, but... I'm not..."

Yellow looked up at her hat and facepalmed.

"Again..." Ash continued, "It's just a personal preference of mine, and... and there actually might be this girl... But I don't know, because I've never really had a crush before..."

Now it was Yellow's turn to cover his mouth.

"No." She said bluntly, taking off her hat, "I don't roll that way either."

Ash's eyes grew to the size of pokeballs when he saw Yellow's long blonde hair emerge in ponytail form from beneath her hat.

"Y-y-you're a-"

"Yes, I'm a girl." She confirmed, "I'm also getting the weirdest feeling of deja vu."

For the second time since he met Yellow, Ash had no idea what to say.

Yellow was still running all of this through her head. "And... If you aren't Red, then you must be _this dimension's_ Red... Ash, right?"

He nodded slowly, and Yellow's blush grew even darker. Half of her face was now crimson. "P... Please. Don't tell anyone that-"

"I won't." he said as he regained his composure and smiled at her. Ash extended his hand and looked Yellow in the eyes. "This can be our personal secret. Cool?"

Yellow smiled as well, but her blush never quite faded away. "Cool..." She mumbled as she shook with her new friend.

They continued forward.

"So... I actually know Red." Ash explained, "I'm guessing you're from his world?"

Yellow's smile grew again as she heard that. "I sure am. Some friends and I came here to rescue him. Do you know where he is?"

Ash's expression grew solemn again. "Yeah. I know where he is, but... I'm sorry, what's your name?"

"Yellow."

"Yellow... I think Red has told to me about you..."

That caught her attention. "He has?"

"Yeah... Say, why are you all named after colors anyway?"

"I... I'm not sure..." She said, "I've never really thought about it before..."

Ash just let it go. "Well, Yellow, we've got much bigger problems on our hands than finding Red."

"Like what?"

* * *

A Dark Void opened up beneath Mewtwo, but he continued to soar across the sky with matchless speed.

Darkrai was on the ground concentrating.

"Come on!" Tobias commanded, "You can hit him! Dark Void! Dark Void! Dark Void!"

Originally, Tobias was aiming for his signature combo of Dark Void and Dream Eater. Two such powerful attacks would put Mewtwo in serious peril, legendary or not. For the moment, though, the psychic-type just seemed too fast. Instead, he was now trying to box Mewtwo in by opening up different voids in different areas and leading him around, but one of the major issues was that Tobias had to shout his command before Darkrai could preform. Giovanni was always quick enough to counter with his own commands. More or less, Tobias was locked in a battle of wits and reactions with Giovanni, and he was trying to think of a new strategy.

"Must you just have your Pokemon sit on the ground and fire attacks at my Pokemon?" Giovanni taunted, "Why not get up and fight like a man?"

"I'm no moron, Giovanni!" he shouted back, "The farther I can keep you from Darkrai, the easier it is to dodge your one trump card. Aura Sphere may be powerful, but it is not near instantaneous like Dark Void. Darkrai and I can see it coming a mile away."

Giovanni gritted his teeth. This man may be a serious problem. As he watched Mewtwo zigzag through the air, he realized that the constant Dark Voids may actually be leading him somewhere, but there was nothing he could do about it. Teleportation was out of the question due to the close range attack Dark Pulse, and teleporting backwards may accidentally lead Mewtwo into one of the previously released Dark Voids. Giovanni may have actually found a worthy challenge for his "ultimate Pokemon".

'Just a little more.' Tobias told himself. His voids _were_ leading Mewtwo somewhere. They were leading him to the ground. As soon as he got within range of Ice Beam, Tobias was going to freeze him still and hit him with a Dark Pulse.

Giovanni began to sweat as Mewtwo descended lower and lower to avoid the voids behind him. "I don't know what you're doing." he admitted, "But it isn't going to work! Mewtwo use Psychic!"

"It has no effect." Tobias reminded him.

The boss glared. "On the trainer."

Tobias tried to say something, but before he could, a massive force picked him up from his feet and slammed him into the tree behind him, effectively hindering his next command for Darkrai.

Darkrai looked to its trainer in shock as well before a massive kick landed on the back of its head and pushed it across the forest floor. It looked up to find Mewtwo charging an Aura Sphere.

"Ugh... You cheated..." Tobias moaned as he stood up from his tree.

Mewtwo fired the shot, but Darkrai was still too quick for him and ascended to the air in a second.

"Come on, what did you expect?" Giovanni defended, "A fair fight? For the destiny of the multiverse? You've gotta be kidding me. Besides, I'm sure you've got Palkia, Dialga, and Arceus in your pokeballs somewhere."

Darkrai was flying higher and higher in the air. Mewtwo was right behind him, firing off Aura Sphere after Aura Sphere. Each one of them missed.

"Fine." Tobias grunted in anger, while pushing a lock of hair away from his eyes. "Darkrai! Dark Void on the rocket!"

He looked up into the air. Mewtwo and Darkrai had become two black dots in the sky.

"Too late!" Giovanni said with a mocking shrug, "He's too high up to hear you."

* * *

Mewtwo was gaining too fast, so Darkrai shot to the left and let Mewtwo's momentum carry him farther up. The plan worked, and as the legendary psychic continued to ride upward, Darkrai caused a Dark Void to appear in his flight path.

* * *

"Then how is your Mewtwo still reacting?" Tobias demanded.

Giovanni tapped on his forehead slightly. "Telepathic connection. Something I came up with when we were playing our endless game of Dark Void tag."

Tobias jutted forward to attack the Rocket boss himself, but the cocking sound of a gun stopped him.

* * *

Mewtwo dodged the Dark Void with Teleportation and appeared behind it instead. Fortunately, even that move takes some time to execute, and Darkrai was already preparing another Dark Void behind that one. Mewtwo teleported again, and the patter continued itself.

Teleport.

Dark Void.

Teleport.

Dark Void.

Teleport.

* * *

Tobias turned his shoulder to see an army of rockets standing behind him near the base entrance. All of them were armed. This was not good.

"So sorry, my friend, but I'm afraid only our Pokemon get to play dirty." Giovanni explained, "If you make a single motion toward me, my boys will turn you into Swiss cheese."

"Then what's to stop you from just killing me and taking my Pokemon now?" he asked.

The crime boss smiled. "I told you from the beginning. I needed something to test my new Pokemon out on! I could have ended this at any minute."

He was lying. When he first emerged from the base, Tobias had Latios out. He knew the legendary would foil any attempts to kill or capture the trainer, so he challenged him to a Pokemon battle. Since then, Tobias had unexpectedly released another powerful legendary, which would _again_ foil any attempts to kill him. Giovanni just was not willing to take that chance a third time.

* * *

Teleport.

Dark Void.

Teleport.

Dark Void.

Teleport.

At this point, the combination stopped for a moment due to the very nature of Dark Void. So many Dark Voids had now filled the sky that Darkrai simply could not see where Mewtwo was. Mewtwo could not see where Darkrai was either.

They both slunk past their own sides of the Dark Voids at ominously slow paces with perfectly quiet movements.

Their eyes darted left and right for their opponent. They were both ready for the slightest sight. They were both ready for the smallest sound.

* * *

Tobias looked up at the sky as a huge black cloud overshadowed the battleground. It was a massive conglomerate of Dark Voids that signified the sheer might of the two Pokemon doing battle.

"Come on, Darkrai." he whispered. "You can do this. Remember your training."

Giovanni simply stared forward in a daze. He was no doubt in telepathic contact with Mewtwo. He was seeing what Mewtwo saw. He was looking for Darkrai.

* * *

"Alright. They're gone." Lance whispered to the others, "Let's get out there now!"

"No!" Red argued, "We don't know what's going on. Tobias is using a dark-type Pokemon right now. He might actually already have this rapped up. Our interfering may actually screw up the plan."

"I don't know." Brock countered, looking over Green and through the trees, "Giovanni has got several guys with guns aiming at Tobias. I'm not sure exactly how we could make the situation worse."

"One of us could be captured and used for even more leverage." Gary suggested.

"This is pointless!" Lance shot again, "We have got to go and get the darkball now!"

"Why does it have to be now?" Green asked, "Isn't a fainted Mewtwo just as good as a stolen Mewtwo?"

"No! Of course it isn't!" He insisted, "We need the Mewtwo conscious... um... In case Ash fails and we have to rescue him and Misty from inside the base!"

"I think that's a bit of a stretch." Red said again, "With Mewtwo gone, we can probably handle the other rockets on our own by just contacting the G-Men."

Lance sweatdropped. "The G-Men... Um... Yeah... Of course."

Brock rubbed his chin in thought a little bit. "You know, Lance. You've been acting pretty strange for the last few hours."

"Strange?! I'm not strange. Ha ha ha! I don't know why you would-"

"Um... Guys..." Blue interrupted, pointing to the now even larger cloud of Dark Voids above everyone's heads. It was growing.

* * *

Darkrai had decided to create more Dark Voids randomly as it moved around the sky. They added to the confusion and hopefully... to fear. Darkrai could feed off of fear. Darkrai could locate fear.

It moved steadily through the inky blackness of the sky, avoiding its own attacks so as to not fall asleep but also waiting to avoid one of Mewtwo's attacks.

It closed its eyes. It could feel it. The fear. One of the downsides to telepathy is that when you are sharing your own consciousness with someone else, you are also sharing your emotions. And while Mewtwo might have been an emotionless slave at the time, Giovanni was afraid.

Two voids behind.

Darkrai opened its eyes and shot toward its destination like a swift wind.

Over one void. Under another. Over one. BINGO!

Mewtwo only saw Darkrai for a half second before a Dark Pulse shot through the air and rippled a huge chunk of voids out of existence. Mewtwo fell from the clouds like a missile, and Darkrai chased after him.

* * *

"ARAAAAAAAHHHH!" Giovanni screamed at the top of his lungs, closing his eyes and grabbing his head as he crouched to the ground in agony.

The rockets behind Tobias all re-aimed their guns in a startled confusion, but Tobias only closed his eyes and chuckled. "Scared?"

* * *

Mewtwo shot toward the tree tops, still stunned, and the sonic boom rippled some of the branches away as Darkrai continued chase.

With a small moan from the dark-type, another Dark Void opened up in Mewtwo's trajectory, and the Pokemon fell through.

Darkrai grunted in satisfaction.

* * *

Giovanni was still on the ground, but he began to regain his footing and kept his hands on his head as his eyes turned a dark purple.

Tobias' smirk disappeared, and he stood awestruck.

What happens when a telepathically tapped Pokemon falls asleep?

* * *

A massive aura blast ripped through the Dark Void and shot Darkrai into the air, back toward the cloud from earlier, and Mewtwo emerged from the abyss with purple glowing eyes and blue glowing hands.

They don't.

* * *

"Okay, okay! Hurry!" insisted Charon as he looked down at his two arch-nemeses.

Diamond was undoing the belt of the male rocket that Charon had knocked out earlier. "But it's _soooo_ weird!" he complained, "I can't just take some guy's pants!"

"He's a bad guy." Pearl insisted as he handed Charon the man's shirt and hat. "Think of it this way. If someone has to be stripped down to their boxers, it might as well be him."

"But does anyone _really _have to be stripped down to their boxers?" he protested.

"Of course they do!" Charon answered, "You heard what the executive rocket said! Rocket troops are going to be here any minute, and we need disguises NOW!"

Diamond reluctantly bent over and continued to take off the man's pants.

"And while you're at it, put your old clothes on him!" Pearl suggested, "We can make it look like we are some sort of Team Rocket heroes who got to the fake security offers and took them out first!"

"AAAAAAAHHHHH!" Screamed a terror-stricken Platinum.

Everyone stopped what they were doing for a moment and looked at the girl to see what had happened. She stood on the other side of the room with the unconscious female rocket. The dress was in her right hand.

"What happened?!" Diamond asked, "Are you okay?!"

"Hardly!" She responded, stretching the dress in front of her waist, "This is polyester! I can't wear polyester! Are you kidding me? Some things are worse than being captured by Team Rocket."

Pearl facepalmed. "Platinum, if you don't wear polyester, you MIGHT DIE!"

The girl shot a glare him.

"Technically, you don't have to wear the polyester." Charon explained as attempted to button the pants that Diamond had just given him.

Pearl and Platinum both looked at him with a hint of curiosity.

He sucked in his stomach and continued to try to button. "That woman is much older than you. Ergo, her clothes are much too big for you. You will need to do the old-fashioned 'two kids stack on top of each other underneath heavy clothing in order to pretend to be an adult' trick." The button finally snapped. "I will be the male rocket. You and one of the boys will be the female rocket. And the remaining boy will be our prisoner."

Diamond stood up in a flash. "Dibs on being Platinum's bottom!"

Pearl did not seem to mind, but he did turn his gaze toward Charon. "How do we know we can trust you?"

"Pearl..." he taunted in a sing-song voice, "You should know by now that I do not take backseat to anybody. I am not about to betray you and let the rockets take over the multiverse when I would be such a better ruler."

He kept his eye on Charon for a little while longer, but eventually he let go. "We dress up. We leave. Period." he said.

Charon finished his outfit by putting on the hat, and then he showed Pearl a large, yellow smile. "Considering that Rocket troops are crawling all over the place toward this exact location to find us, I could not agree with you more."

* * *

The game was back to fast paced flying and shooting for Mewtwo and Darkrai. Mewtwo did his best to stay on the offensive, and every time that Darkrai would try to go back toward the ground, Mewtwo would prevent it with some sort of dangerous barrage of aura attacks.

'Separate it from its trainer. Take it out in the sky.' were the only things on Giovanni's mind and, thus, Mewtwo's.

Eventually Darkrai caught onto this game and decided that it would do one better.

After one too many aura attacks, the dark legendary shot up even higher in the sky, daring Mewtwo to follow it.

He took the bait.

* * *

"What are you doing?" Giovanni almost whispered from the ground.

Tobias smiled again. He had trained Darkrai well.

* * *

"We are going in there NOW!" Lance insisted.

"I'm telling you that we need to wait until this plays out!" Red shot back.

* * *

Darkrai led Mewtwo up the atmosphere at an unbelievable speed.

The telepathy could not be that strong. You cannot telepathically connect with someone who's under mind control and expect it to be a strong connection.

Darkrai could now see the stars. It thrust forward with all its might as it shrugged off the remaining gravity and left Earth entirely.

Mewtwo followed it, and the purple glow in his eyes began to fade.

* * *

"What?" Giovanni asked in concern as his purple glow began to fade as well, "No! No! Mewtwo!"

He could not turn back or Darkrai would simply reenter the earth undetected and sneak his way onto the battlefield, but his powers were fading as he reached outer space.

Giovanni let off one last thought, and then his eyes reverted back to normal.

He had lost connection.

Mewtwo was out of range.

The crime boss snapped back to his own consciousness and looked around the forest. He saw Tobias directly across from him. He saw his men behind Tobias. He saw the leafs, trees, and brush in the area, but it took him a while to readjust to what had just happened. He blinked a few times. There was silence.

"...Well?" Tobias asked.

Giovanni's blank expression quickly turned into a frown. "Kill him."

Tobias turned around in a flash, but the guns followed him. He could not move.

"KILL HIM!" Giovanni commanded again, with a point of his finger.

* * *

"There. _Now _can we interfere?" Lance asked.

"POKEBALLS! GO!" Red shouted at the top of his lungs as he released every Pokemon he had onto the battle field and shot forward on Aero's back.

In no time, Vee, Snor, Saur, Pika, and Poli materialized on the field in the middle of the crowd of rockets. This startled most of the gunmen and caused several misfires in the wrong directions. Chaos erupted in seconds and gave Tobias a chance to run back to the thick of the forest, but just as he was about to reach the edge of the meadow, two massive charizards darted from the trees and into the air right in front of him.

Blue, Gary, Green, and Brock rode atop their respective Pokemon and showered the field with every pokeball they had.

"Get out here!" Green commanded.

"I choose you, everyone!" Cried Brock.

"Fight hard, and push forward!" Blue shouted.

"We've got this!" Gary yelled.

Tobias fell over backwards as he saw two scizors, a golduck, a porygon2, a machamp, a ninetails, a granbull, a nidoqueen, a clafable, two blastoise, a wigglytuff, an umbreon, an electivire, an arcanine, a magmar, a steelix, a crobat, a sudowoodo, a croagunk, a chansey, and a forretress all appear on the field at once and charge the rockets in front of the base. Gunfire rang through the air everywhere, and the various troops began to release their own Pokemon as well. More rockets came to assist, and the massive battle only grew in size and intensity.

Tobias stood back up and continued to run for cover. He was completely lost as he dove through the trees. "What's going on?!" he shouted in fear, "I thought no one was supposed to know about this place!"

Red zipped back through the treeline and had Aero pick Tobias up with his talons. "Hey! Toby!" he called from above.

"It's Tobias!" he corrected.

"Sorry. Tobias, you seem like a powerful trainer! Do you have any more Pokemon that you can use to help us?"

The older trainer looked down at the visible part of his belt through the cloak that he wore. He did. Four Pokemon left.

"Who are you?" he asked, still unable to see the trainer that rode above him.

Red let out a small grin. "I'd be the cavalry."

* * *

Giovanni ran across the battlefield to get to safety. He was ducking and rolling from the attacks and gunfire, but the base entrance was on the other side of the thick fight. He was just going to settle for some brush until he could think things through.

"Code Red! Code Red!" he began to shout into his radio, "We have a Code Red at Entry #1! The HQ has been discovered! Mewtwo is MIA! Leader 1 is under fire! Get everyone who isn't sweeping the base for the intruders out here RIGHT NOW! I'm also going to need someone to move the laser in case of-"

Giovanni was cut off by an explosion that rocketed the ground right in front of him. He fell over backwards and began to cough as the dust and smoke in the air surrounded him. The crime boss dropped his radio and tried to crawl beneath the fumes to find a safe area.

"Why, hello there, Giovanni!" Came a teasing voice from the mist, "Not a fan of my Hyperbeams?"

A strong force jutted into the rocket's throat and lifted him up in the air. Giovanni could not breathe, but he rose higher and higher above the smoke as it dramatically cleared to reveal a single hand around his neck and a red-headed dragon tamer with a devious smirk. "It's been a while."

* * *

"I-I-I'm sorry, sir, but I really have to go. Haven't you heard? Every rocket in the building needs to either be on sweep or on battle. Well, other than those assigned to the laser, but Dr. Sebastian-"

"But that obviously does not apply to me." he insisted, "Just give me your card."

"But... But I'm not sure if I-"

"Give me your card _NOW_!" he demanded.

The rocket sweatdropped and pulled a small black card with a red 'R' out of his pocket. "Here you go." he said, "Bottom floor. Room 52."

"Thank you." Said Silver, "You can go now."

The grunt bowed his head awkwardly and ran off in the other direction as Silver turned the key card over in his hand.

"Time for a little father-son chat, Dad."

* * *

**More AN: Alright, so I know some people wanted to see more Gold, Crystal, Silver, Misty, May, and Drew, but it just was not in the cards for this one. They will appear next round for sure. I also apologize that Red, Blue, and Green did not get a WHOLE lot of time this round. I'm hoping that the epicness of their arrival will make up for it for now. They will be more prominent next round. I also hope that everyone thought the battle between Darkrai and Mewtwo was awesome! It's not over yet, but I wanted to make sure that I did a good job with one of the most debated fights in the Pokemon fandom. Also, I had a lot of fun with Benevolentshipping for a while, lol! ;) You won't find THAT in the ship warning. I only warn about serious ships. Tell me how you feel about it. Tell me what you think will happen next or even what you would like to happen next. Also, I have a poll on my profile about my next fic. I really need people to vote on it, because very few people have. Anyway, it's a pleasure as always. I'll try to update two Sundays from now. See ya then!  
**


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